mind your tongue
by chaosbarnes
Summary: The Minder is the protector of the Avatar, meant to be an equal, a companion, and a friend. But the view of the Minder has changed in recent years, and turns out protecting someone is a lot easier said than done. [zuko x oc; follows canon storyline] [COMPLETE]
1. prologue

**hello. shizuoh here.**

 **when i was very young, i wrote a story titled "the tauln" that featured an oc of my own, in the a:tla universe. it was moderately-successful, not very much so, and i doubt anyone remembers it. i've since deleted it, and now i'm back, with a new and improved version of it.**

 **my reason for writing this is because i'm nearing adulthood, and i wanted to reminisce my younger days, even though those days were filled with not-so-pleasant experiences. i wrote "the tauln" to distract myself from the way my life was at home. for a long time, "the tauln" had been postponed and put on hiatus because i had become homeless. once i was able to, i deleted it, because i was embarrassed.**

 **i suppose i am a little embarrassed for posting ANOTHER zuko x oc fanfiction, but really, i'm doing this for myself.**

 **apologies for the long author's note. but here's a little background information that i hope will help you understand this story.**

 **my oc, ka, has been changed compared to her original design. as such, she now has very dark skin, white hair, violet eyes, and black tattoos that cover her entire body.**

 **without further ado, let's get into this, shall we?**

* * *

 _Since the beginning of the Avatar, there was the Minder. No one knows how they exactly came to be, but they have always been there, by the Avatar's side, guiding and protecting them, while the Avatar would do the same. They are born as the next nation in an Avatar's cycle, as in, an Avatar born to the Water Tribe would have an earthbending Minder. They are meant to be a guardian, a teammate, a companion, a friend._

 _They are connected in almost every way, and equal all the same—they are both bridges to the Spirit World, they are both defenders of the world, and they both have the capabilities of all four elements._

 _As time went on, and reincarnations continued, the people of the world began to see the Minder is simply a guardian, lesser to their Avatar, as the Avatar was believed to have been the first of the two. So, customs changed, and the Avatar became the more powerful, the more respected, the more feared. The Minder was another way to show power—and whenever one was found, they were taught to respect their Avatar first and foremost._

 _Some defied this, some accepted it, and some Minders were never found at all. The most arrogant of Avatars, of course, didn't need one._

 _When the Fire Nation attacked, and the airbending Avatar disappeared, the world turned to the Minder they had ignored and put down for so long. But there was no Minder to be found, no defender of the world to protect them._

 _So the war raged on, the airbending's Avatar original Minder died, and now the destiny has fallen on a young spirit's shoulders._

 _This will be a fun tale to tell._

* * *

A five-year old child splashes in the murky river, her face set in a forced deadpan. She resists the urge to smile, because she knows her father is watching from the shadows, and her father is a ruthless man. It does not matter that she is young, it does not matter that she is his own child—if she shows the slightest upturn of her lips, if she raises her eyebrows in surprise at anything, he will steal her face.

She is five years old and already fears for her existence.

This is one of the rare times her father lets her out of the dark cave they reside in. He does not speak to her much even when she is inside; he usually only tells her riddles, or information about the outside world she will never understand until she is well over centuries old. He does this to confuse her, to ridicule her, and his reasoning is that it will make her stronger—his mother did the same, and here she is.

Her father steals faces. Her grandmother gives them away. This young child cannot do a single thing.

(Or, at least, not yet. Fate has a funny way of stringing things together.)

Her father slithers back into his cave, already sick of seeing the animals stare at him. He calls for his child, but she does not respond. Very rarely is she permitted to speak. The child does not move, does not make a sound, and peeks back just for a moment to see if he is truly gone.

When there is no sight of him anywhere, the child rolls up her sleeves and dashes down the edge of the river, allowing herself a small smile, because she is sure there is no one to rip it from her face. The child does not pay attention to where she runs, or where she's going, because this is the Spirit World, and if she asks kindly enough, certainly a spirit somewhere would be willing to take her home. Perhaps that nice Fire Nation man who calls himself Roku. He comes to speak to her sometimes.

The child only stops when she realizes she is about to run into a pole. She freezes, and looks all around, eyes wide. She is standing by a strange structure, almost like a gate, but it only leads to more trees. She steps back and forth between it a few times, but nothing happens, and she frowns, disappointed.

She hears a sound, and turns quickly, wondering if it is her father, coming to retrieve her. She does not hear the telltale hiss of his voice, nor the sound of him crawling around, and she lets herself exhale slowly. There are elemental spirits hiding behind trees and bushes, watching her carefully, observing her, as if she were a work of art.

Or an attraction at a zoo.

The child frowns. She knows she does not look like her father (and she does not know what her grandmother looks like, so she does not know if she looks similar to her), or like any usual spirit. She looks as if she came from the physical world, born with a humanoid form as opposed to the centipede body her father has. She does not know why she was born (or— _created,_ supposedly, considering the child does not have a mother, and her father created her himself) that way, and why her father chose that form for her, but she is only five, and does not know a lot of things.

Suddenly, she hears a collective gasp, and looks around to see what they are reacting to. There is a bright light coming from the center of the gate, almost like a beam, before settling into an orb-like shape, glowing a bright orange. The child stares with wide eyes, and if her father were here he'd scold her before stealing the look right off her face (literally). She takes a few steps towards it when it does nothing but hover, and shields her eyes when it starts to pulse with light. Her five-year-old curiosity cannot contain itself, and the child only manages to poke the orb before a force suddenly knocks her onto her back and shakes.

The child shrieks when the orb forms into a strange mist and flies straight through it. She turns around, and the orange orb is gone, and there's a sudden strange feeling coursing through her. She tries to rise to her feet, but finds herself frozen, quite literally.

There's a tug on her very being, and suddenly she feels ice cold all over. She's so cold it _hurts,_ and she wraps her arms around herself and trembles. When she exhales, she can see her own breath. The Spirit World is known for being warm and damp, so why is she _freezing?_ Why does she feel like she's been encased in ice? The child is so cold she feels as if she could die, and all the elemental spirits are whispering to each other in words the child cannot understand, and _nobody is helping her—_

" _Oh my,_ " comes a soft voice.

The child shakes and opens her eyes— _when had she closed them?_ —and there stands two figures. The Fire Nation man (Roku? Right?) and a woman of the same height. They are both slightly see-through, almost like if the child blinks they would disappear. The woman has wispy brown hair that hangs around her shoulders, but cut at the top of her head to let a blue arrow show through. The two glance at each other, sharing a look, and then stare back down at the child.

" _The Minder has passed,_ " says the woman.

" _So she has,_ " Roku replies. " _With no further Avatar spirit to guide her, she has come here._ "

" _To no avail, it seems,_ " the woman says, and it seems as if the child isn't even there, " _don't you see what has happened?_ " The woman takes a step forward, and takes the child's hands so she can pull her up to her feet. " _You are Koh the Face Stealer's child, no?_ "

The child opens her mouth to reply, but stops herself out of habit. Embarrassed, she nods, and shivers again.

" _You are feeling a connection to the physical world,_ " Roku speaks up, catching her attention. " _By absorbing the spirit of the past Minder, you have bonded with it. The current Avatar is trapped, and you are feeling that same feeling._ "

" _She is five, Roku,_ " the woman admonishes, shaking her head. " _She will not understand what you're saying._ "

The child blinks, her eyes blank. The woman gestures to her as if to say, _See? I told you so._ Roku looks off to the side for a moment, as if contemplating something, and then back to the woman and child.

" _Do you remember who I am?_ " he asks curiously.

"Roku," the child says; her throat burns as soon as the words leave her throat.

" _I am the past Avatar,_ " he says, and the child is sure she has heard him explain this before, " _and this is, or was, my Minder, Divya. She originated from the Air Nation._ "

 _Divya, what a pretty name,_ the child thinks. Said woman smiles, and pats the child's head softly.

" _You will understand once you are older, what this means for you,_ " she whispers. " _Your destiny has changed into something wonderful._ "

Then they disappear, the touch is gone, and in the distance the child hears her father's voice shouting for her.

She turns on her heel, still confused, shaken, and cold, and puts on her deadpan expression.

* * *

 _"You will understand once you are older, what this means for you. Your destiny has changed into something wonderful."_

What truth those words would become.

* * *

Growing up in the Spirit World has its fair share of pros and cons.

Pros? You can learn from all kinds of spirits from all kinds of time periods. The child, who has long since broken the definition of "child," has learned so many interesting things about the physical world just from the accounts of those deceased.

Cons? You are bound to the world by birth, and more importantly, bound by another spirit. The child's father does not like her new destiny, or her new identity. While he is determined to keep her as long as he can in his control, both he and his child know that she will eventually be free of her shackles to the Spirit World once the Avatar awakens and the powers of the Minder, locked deep inside her, are freed.

The child is sixteen. The child has years of experience of being tutored of the physical world by the past Avatar and Minder. While her ability to bend is still locked until her Avatar awakens, the forms she has learned will certainly give her a head start.

She is confident, but also not, because Divya tells her of how the world views a Minder, compared to the Avatar. She wants to change that, but she does not know how, and she has never seen another living person's face before.

The child goes outside the cave for a few hours every day (or so she thinks—time works strangely in the Spirit World), and return back to her stoic form when she resides inside her father's cave. Years of parenthood does not warm up Koh to the idea of not taking his child's face as soon as she makes a simple expression. She has had a few slip-ups, but they were either gone unnoticed or ignored. She does not know how much longer she will be able to keep from making an expression, or, once she gets to the physical world, if she will ever be able to make one at all.

One day, while she is going over a form with her mentor, the child suddenly feels an odd pull on her spirit, and she freezes in place, eyes wide. She stares at Divya in anticipation, and wordlessly asks _What's happening?_

It feels like her soul is being pulled, and she screams in pain. Divya gasps, and disappears for a moment, and returns with Roku in tow.

" _Your destiny is approaching,_ " Divya urges. " _Do not fight it!_ "

She wants to, she wants to _stop_ this pain, and the child falls to her knees and grasps at her chest. Her eyes begin to glow a bright blue, and her skin is covered in goosebumps as chills run down her spine. She hears her father's voice in the distance, but it sounds far too faint to be real, and then suddenly—

There is wind. There is light. She is laying in something cold, and she shivers.

When the child lifts her head, she is surrounded by ice and snow. Jumping to her feet, she sees a forest coated in frost and ice, never to melt and grow. The child looks around, eyes wide and full of confusion. It isn't until she feels another tug on her spirit that she realizes.

She is in the physical world, and her destiny is beginning to shape itself.

The child takes a deep breath, and does the first thing her mind tells her to: _bend._ Lifting her hand, she strikes it through the air, and the snow in front of her follows her movements. The child allows herself a grin, and keeps going, running as fast as she can and tossing the snow into the air with her newfound waterbending. She has never felt more free, more alive, more _real._

Here her father cannot touch her, and here is where she can laugh, smile, and express herself.

When one of her sleeves rolls up, she sees it. Black marks. The child pauses and turns the snow underneath her into a sheet of ice. She leans forward and inspects her reflection in it. Running all the way from the bottom of her jaw, down her arms, back, and chest, and to her feet, are black swirling tattoos that almost look like they're moving. There's a multitude of odd, contrasting patterns, and the child can only wonder, because she hadn't had these marks before.

Then she thinks for a moment. These must represent her status as a spirit, and recall her connection to the Spirit World.

 _Shackles,_ she thinks, and frowns. She bends the ice away and starts walking.

* * *

There is a small village up ahead, filled with young children and older people. It is her first time seeing a living person's face, and she's stuck in the snow in awe for a few moments.

"Hey! Who's that!" Someone can _see_ her, and it fills her with inappropriate dread and fear. What kind of Minder _is_ she if she's freaked out by someone noticing her existence?

"I—" she starts, and cuts herself off. She's never been good at speaking, and her voice decides to die on her. Instead of answering directly, the child decides to walk right into the village, taking note of all the looks she gets from the villagers (mostly from the children, who are staring at her with a mix of awe and terror. Her face, now marred by the tattoos, must look horrendous).

There is a boy who stands out from the other villagers. He is smaller, decorated in arrow tattoos similar to Divya's, and carries a staff. He stares at the child like he knows her, and even though she herself has never met nor seen him before, she had felt his presence, and his cold.

This is her Avatar.

The child takes another deep breath and bows at the waist.

"My name is Ka," she forces out, "and I am the Minder."

* * *

 **so? yeah? good enough? yeah.**

 **i haven't used this site in years. so, uh... review? i suppose? it'd certainly help with my motivation, and to give me feedback on my writing and the flow of it would be very helpful. let me know if this story is interesting enough to continue, i guess.**

 **until next time.**


	2. season one: episodes 1-3

**thank you to the person who reviewed last chapter. i hope the people who have checked this story out are intrigued enough to take a peek at chapter 2.**

 **anyway, here we go.**

* * *

"My name is Ka, and I am the Minder."

With those words the village goes silent, and Ka finds herself sweating in anticipation, despite the frosty chill that brings goosebumps to her skin. The Spirit World had been so warm—what a harsh difference.

Ka glances up, at the boy who she is sure is her Avatar. She stares at him, and he suddenly looks fearful. The boy looks off to the side, almost sheepishly, and Ka furrows her eyebrows in confusion.

"The Minder is dead," comes an old woman's voice, and Ka straightens herself to face her. "You are just a child. It's not funny to joke about that."

They don't believe her. Ka does not blame them, but she feels a sense of disappointment when the boy Avatar does not even look at her.

"But—" one of the younger villagers tries; she's very beautiful, with dark skin, the bluest eyes Ka's ever seen, and a long brown braid that falls down her back.

"She looks freezing," says another woman, not as young as the girl before, and behind her stands a small child, so Ka assumes she's a mother. "She's probably delirious."

 _I'm telling the truth,_ Ka wants to say, but her voice fails her, and she doesn't protest as the woman comes to her side and takes her arm so she can lead her into one of the igloos. "I'll warm her up, and perhaps we'll be able to find out where she's from," the woman continues, followed by a murmur of agreement from various villagers. _I'm the Minder,_ Ka tries, but still does not say a thing.

She is already a failure.

* * *

Ka is placed in front of a dimming fireplace, a borrowed blue park firmly wrapped around her body. It warms her up quickly, and she is thankful for the woman's attention to her, but she is also irritated. When she hears someone walk inside, she does not turn around, and pretends she did not hear a thing.

"Sorry," comes a boy's voice, and then she turns. It's her Avatar, and she narrows her eyes at him. He glances at her and then back down at the ground. "I wasn't... I didn't..." He struggles to find his words, and then decides to sit down across from her. "I'm Aang."

"You are the Avatar," Ka says. "The village believes I am sick." It's easier to talk when it's someone she is connected to, apparently.

"You said your name was... Ka, right?"

She pauses. "Yes."

"Well..." Aang murmurs, playing with his fingers. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything. I was scared."

"Of being the Avatar?" Ka guesses.

"That, and..." He stops himself, and looks at her face, meeting her gaze. "I... I ran away. I don't want to disappoint the world."

Ka blinks. "We have a duty to the world," she says, struggling a bit. "We must fulfill it."

Aang seems to avoid her sentence, and instead eyes her up and down, taking in her appearance, and mostly her new tattoos. "Where did you even come from?"

"The Spirit World," Ka replies honestly. "I have been waiting for you to awaken, Avatar."

"Just call me Aang," he says with a smile.

Ka doesn't say anything for a moment. The boy across from her raises his eyebrows, and she frowns. "Aang," she says flatly.

Aang's smile only gets brighter. "So you're a spirit?"

"Yes," Ka says. "But. I am the Minder now."

"Right, right," Aang replies distantly. Ka furrows her eyebrows. He seems to avoid any topic that has to do with the Avatar or the Minder. If the village knew he was the Avatar, then _surely_ they would believe Ka to be the Minder. Perhaps it's the stigma towards Minders? Ka thinks for a moment—

She realizes. "The village does not know."

"I..." Aang tries, but shakes his head. "No. They don't."

" _Why?_ "

"I never wanted to be the Avatar," Aang confesses, and looks down in shame. "I would have to leave my home, leave behind all my friends." Then he stops himself. "I guess I did that anyway. Once I go back, I'll... have to apologize. And... face it."

Ka hesitates, because she has never touched a living person before, but she puts her hand on top of Aang's, and gives him a hard, determined stare when he looks up.

"We will face it together," she says. "We are connected. I go where you go."

Aang smiles again, but it's not as bright as before. He nods once, and when he hears his name being called, gives Ka an apologetic look before exiting.

Ka watches him go, and then turns back to the fire. She spaces out, her eyes lingering on the flames that grow and dim, grow and dim.

* * *

She hears muffled voices from outside, yelling and laughter. A few moments after it dies down, someone angrily enters the igloo, and Ka turns around to see an older boy that looks similar to the pretty girl from before. He's giving her a furious glare, and Ka's eyes widen when he points his spear at her.

"Aang comes out of a block of ice and _you_ suddenly appear," he says almost threateningly. "Too much of a coincidence to be anything good. You're Fire Nation, aren't you?"

 _Technically,_ Ka thinks, considering her past lives. She has a feeling admitting this to the boy would only increase his intent to harm her, so she merely shakes her head.

"You're lying," the boy says, tightening his grip on his spear. "You try to win our trust by saying you're the _Minder,_ but it _won't_ work on me." He narrows his eyes. "I saw Aang come in here earlier. Discussing your _evil_ Fire Nation plans, huh?"

"No," Ka says firmly.

The boy opens his mouth to say something else, but a sudden sound, almost like a firecracker, interrupts him. Both Ka and the boy look up at the ceiling (like it would help them), and pause in case there's more sound. The boy quickly runs outside, and Ka jumps to her feet to follow him. When she gets outside, the harsh cold startles her, but she ignores it long enough to peer up at the direction the boy and the other villagers are looking at.

It's a distant flare, and many of the villagers gasp in fear.

"I knew it," the boy angrily whispers, and grabs Ka by the hood of her borrowed parka, dragging her along.

* * *

The villagers stand by the entrance, watching Aang and Katara (the older boy's sister, Ka has learned) walk towards them. The older boy (Sokka, Ka thinks his name is) still has a firm grip on Ka, his face turning into one of rage when his eyes settle on Aang's approaching form.

"Yay!" a few of the children cry. "Aang's back!" They start to run towards him gleefully, and Aang smiles, but Sokka stomps forward, nearly causing Ka to trip from how hard he's holding her.

"I knew it!" he shouts. "You signaled the Fire Nation with that flare! You're leading them straight to us, aren't you?"

Ka can only wonder what happened to this village to give them _this_ large of an aversion to the Fire Nation. From what the spirits used to tell her, the Fire Nation was ruthless. What could have they done to a village _this_ tiny?

"Aang didn't do anything!" Katara protests. "It was an accident!"

"Yeah," Aang says, rubbing the back of his head and glancing between Katara and Sokka. "We were on this ship and there was this booby trap, and, well, we booby-ed right into it."

The old woman from before, who had accused Ka of lying, takes a step forward and frowns at Katara disapprovingly. "Katara, you shouldn't have gone on that ship! Now we could _all_ be in danger."

Aang puts his hands up. "Don't blame Katara. I brought her there. It's my fault."

"Aha! The traitor confesses!" Sokka exclaims, smirking, pointing an accusing finger at Aang. "The foreigner is banished from our village," he says, and then shoves Ka in Aang's direction, "along with his accomplice."

Ka stumbles a bit, and Aang catches her quickly. She straightens and sends a burning glare Sokka's way. She sees him falter slightly, but his anger is still set firmly in his gaze.

"Sokka, you're making a mistake," Katara seethes, clenching her fists so tightly they shake.

"No, I'm keeping my promise to Dad," Sokka says. "I'm protecting you from threats like _them!_ "

Threats. She's a _threat_ now. It's then that Ka realizes she's still wearing the borrowed parka, and she wonders if it's a bad time to go and return it.

"Aang is _not_ our enemy!" Katara protests, gesturing to them, and Ka can't even find it in her to feel hurt that she's been looked over. "Don't you see? Aang's brought us something we haven't had in a long time." She stops, and looks across the villagers. "Fun."

" _Fun!?_ We can't fight firebenders with _fun!_ "

"You should try it sometime," Aang says, smiling. Ka resists the urge to groan.

"Get out of our village," Sokka orders in reply, "now! "

"Grandmother, please," Katara pleads quickly, stepping closer to the old woman. "Don't let Sokka do this!"

"Katara..." her grandmother sighs. "You _knew_ going on that ship was forbidden. Sokka is right." She glances between both Aang and Ka, and her expression is impossible to read. "I think it is best if the airbender and his companion leave."

"Fine!" Katara shouts, throwing her hands in the air. "Then I'm banished too!" She turns on her heel and grabs Aang's wrist, dragging him towards his bison. Ka follows in pursuit. "Come on, Aang," she looks behind her, "Ka, let's go."

"Where do you think you're going?" Sokka demands.

"To find a waterbender. Aang is taking me to the North Pole!" Katara replies.

"I am?" Aang questions. He and Ka share a look. "Great!"

"Katara!" Sokka calls after her. "Would you really choose _him_ over your tribe? Your own _family?_ "

Katara stops in her tracks, her grip falling from Aang's wrist. She looks down at the ground, her eyes sad and very near broken.

"Katara, I don't want to come between you and your family," Aang says softly, putting his hand on Katara's shoulder before walking ahead of her and patting his bison's head. Ka moves to do the same, and the bison leans further into her touch.

"So, you're leaving the South Pole?" Katara asks quietly. "This is goodbye?"

"Thanks for penguin sledding with me," Aang says sincerely.

"Where will you go?" Katara continues.

Aang glances at Ka before looking back at Katara. "Guess I'll go back home and look for the airbenders." He pauses, and his eyes widen. "Wow, I haven't cleaned my room in a hundred years," he says, trying to lighten the solemn mood with a joke. "Not looking forward to that." He takes Ka's arm and airbends himself onto his bison, pulling Ka up with him. She moves to the saddle while Aang sits on his head. "It was nice meeting everyone."

Sokka scoffs, his arms crossed. "Let's see your bison fly now, air boy."

Aang smiles down at his bison. "Come on, Appa, you can do it! Yip-yip!" He flicks the reins, but his bison only stands and yawns.

"Yeah, I thought so!" Sokka mocks.

A young girl suddenly shouts and runs forward, stopping next to Katara. There are visible tears in her eyes, and Ka wonders if it was her presence that made everyone so suspicious of Aang.

"Aang, don't go. I'll miss you!" the young girl entreats.

Aang's smile disappears. "I'll miss you too." He looks at Katara, and the two stare at each other for a moment before Aang urges his bison along and they leave.

* * *

It's silent as they tread the icy tundra.

"Sorry," Ka blurts suddenly, and she is more surprised by her voice than Aang is.

"For what?"

Ka doesn't look at him. "For... coming." She points to herself. "Ruined it?"

Aang shakes his head quickly, and looks aghast at the thought if it being her fault. "What? No! Of course not!" He smiles sheepishly. "I'm actually kind of _glad_ you came. I'm less alone on this whole... _Avatar_ thing."

Ka tries to smile back, but it comes out as some weird expression. Aang does not make fun of her or laugh at her, so it only grows.

They stop at an odd ice formation when Appa grows tired. Aang helps Ka out of the saddle, and she sits beside him above the bison. They sit in silence for a few moments, before Appa lets out a loud grunt and shifts.

"Yeah, I liked her too," Aang says sadly, and Ka can only wonder if he can actually understand Appa or not.

Out of the corner of her eye she sees something large and dark, and turns her head. When she realizes what it is, she nudges Aang with her elbow and points in the direction of the Fire Nation ship sailing towards the tribe.

He gasps. "The village!" He slides down the ice formation and helps Ka to the ground. "Appa, wait here!"

* * *

They run back to the penguins, per Aang's suggestion. He lures one of them over with a fish, and climbs on its back when its distracted. Ka hesitates, but Aang is staring at her, waiting for her to hop on. She isn't sure if she can even fit, but Aang nods once, and Ka carefully climbs behind him and wraps her arms around his waist. She is a lot bigger than him.

Aang airbends a bit to make them go faster, and off they go. Ka tightens her thighs around the penguin to keep herself from sliding off. As they get closer to the village they can see fire and hear yelling. Ka bites her lip, and Aang sticks his tongue out in concentration.

Aang takes his feet out and tosses the nearest Fire Nation soldier in the air, and Ka watches as he lands on his face, the other soldiers not even coming to help him.

The penguin glides towards the villagers, who are cheering and jumping in the air. When Aang skids to a stop, snow falls over the children, and they fall silent for only a hot second before cheering again. The penguin crawls out from under them, knocking both Aang and Ka off. As the penguin waddles away, Aang smiles and waves appropriately.

"Hey, Katara. Hey, Sokka," Aang greets. Ka waves in kind.

Sokka is sitting in the snow, his face decorated in warrior makeup, looking thoroughly frustrated. "Hi, Aang, Ka. Thanks for coming."

Ka looks back towards the soldiers, one of whom, the one who bears a distinguishing scar, stares them down angrily. She jumps to her feet, pulling Aang up by one hand. The scarred soldier motions for the others to surround them, and Ka assumes he is the leader. Except he cannot be any older than Ka, maybe even a year younger. She furrows her eyebrows in confusion.

Aang takes a fighting stance, but it looks more defensive than not. Ka firmly stands beside him, ready to protect her Avatar from any threat, just as she's been waiting to do. Aang sweeps the ground with his staff, showering each soldier with heavy snow, and spins before slamming it on the ground, creating a blast of snow so large it coats the scarred soldier. When it begins to melt off him, his face is full of rage.

"Looking for us?" Aang asks, and Ka puts her hands on her hips.

The scarred soldier looks between them. " _You're_ the airbender?" he asks in disbelief, looking directly at Aang. " _You're_ the Avatar?"

Aang moves back into his fighting stance, but Ka sees his hands shake.

"Aang?" Katara asks, shocked.

"No way," Sokka continues.

"That must make _you_ the Minder," the scarred soldier says, and Ka bends water into her hands. "I've spent years preparing for this encounter. Training, meditating." He frowns. "You're just children!"

 _Children._ Ka rolls her eyes.

Aang tilts his head to the side with a confused look. "Well, you're just a teenager."

The scarred soldier doesn't seem to like this, and he growls before sending fire blast after fire blast in their direction. Ka manages to douse two of them with the water she holds, creating a screen of steam that blinds her vision to the next one. Aang jumps in front of her and twirls his staff quickly enough to dissipate the flames. Each blast makes him fall back, and Ka lifts her hands to create a block of ice thick enough to withstand a few of the blasts. When it breaks apart, the flames begin to get dangerously close to hurting the villagers, who cower and cover their heads.

Aang looks back with wide eyes, and holds his staff in front of him with a determined gaze.

"If I go with you," he says, taking a deep breath, "will you promise to leave everyone alone?"

Ka does not like his plan, but decides not to go against him, and drops the water back into the snow.

The scarred soldier hesitates, but leaves his offensive stance and nods once. It's almost terrifying.

The other soldiers approach them, grabbing Aang's staff and holding the two with their arms behind their backs. Ka grits her teeth when one of them shoves her forward harshly.

"No!" Katara shouts, running forward. " _Don't_ do this!"

"Don't worry, Katara," Aang says, surprisingly calm. "It'll be okay." He gasps when he's shoved onto the walkway, and he stands at the top of the walkway with Ka. "Take care of Appa for me until I get back."

"Head a course for the Fire Nation!" the scarred soldier orders as he stomps into his ship. "I'm going home."

The villagers are staring up at the ship, their expressions a mix of worry, fright, and sadness. Aang gives his best smile, but it's weak, and when the bow rises high enough to where they cannot see, it quickly falls.

* * *

The soldiers take Aang and Ka to the deck of the ship as it sails away. The scarred soldier introduces himself as _Prince Zuko,_ and Ka wonders, _what luck they have to be captured by the prince of the Fire Nation._

Their hands are bound behind their back, and two soldiers hold onto them tightly. Prince Zuko holds Aang's staff, observing it with a curious gaze. The older man standing beside him is giving Ka an even more curious one.

"This staff will make an excellent gift for my father," the prince says, and Ka frowns. "I suppose you wouldn't know of fathers, being raised by monks." He looks at Ka, but doesn't give her any attention, and it irritates her to no end.

She knows of fathers, and they are not very kind.

"Take the Avatar and his Minder to the prison hold," Prince Zuko orders his soldiers, and shoves the staff into the older man's hands, "and take _this_ to my quarters." He walks away triumphantly.

The older man raises his eyebrows and casually hands a soldier the staff. "Hey, you mind taking this to his quarters for me?"

The soldiers holding onto Aang and Ka shove them ahead as the others walk away. They are taken down below, Aang lifting his head to watch where his staff his going for as long as possible before his head is shoved downwards.

They walk through a corridor, and Ka looks at the soldier in front of Aang and behind her, wondering just what she can do to get herself and Aang out of this.

"So," Aang starts slyly, "I guess you've never fought an _airbender_ before. I bet I could take you _both_ with my hands tied behind my back."

"Silence," the soldier says, unamused.

They stop in front of a door, and one of the soldiers reaches up to unlock the cell. Aang inhales deeply before blowing out, unleashing a blast of air so strong he, Ka, and the soldier behind him slam into the wall on the other side. Aang and Ka quickly run to the stairs, and Aang propels both him and Ka onto the deck before slamming the main door open. Ka cannot run as fast as he can, but she manages to catch up with him. They both look over their shoulder, in case they're being followed. Instead, they hear a shout, "The Avatar and Minder have escaped!"

They frantically run down the corridors until they're stopped by three soldiers carrying swords. Aang and Ka look at each other and then back at them.

"You haven't seen my staff around, have you?" Aang asks, as if one of them would answer.

Sure enough, they prepare to attack, but Aang kicks a blast of air at them to create a path they can run through. The soldiers look back, dumbfounded, but they're already gone.

"Thanks anyway!" Aang shouts for good measure.

They race through hallway after hallway of the ship (it can't be that big, Ka thinks), and when they encounter one guard he turns out to be another firebender. Aang kicks both he and Ka up with his airbending, flipping over the soldier, and uses the sharp tip of his helmet to cut his bindings. The soldier falls to the ground from the impact, and Aang slices Ka's bindings off before they proceed down the hall.

Aang opens one door while Ka opens another, looking for the staff. Ka moves over to Aang when he opens another door, and upon looking inside, they see the older man from before sleeping peacefully. Aang winces, whispering _Sorry!_ before slowly closing it.

They run further down the hallway, passing a suspiciously open door. When Aang skids to a stop and walks backwards to look inside, Ka is about to tell him to not go inside, but his staff is inside, resting against the wall, and there is nothing Ka can do to stop him. He dashes through the door, Ka quickly stepping forward to catch up with him, and picks up his staff happily.

"My staff!" he exclaims.

Suddenly, the door slams shut, and they turn around to see Prince Zuko with his hand against the closed door.

"Looks like I underestimated you," he says, assuming a quick fighting stance and not wasting any time before sending a fire blast their way.

Aang shouts in shock and narrowly avoids it by ducking, grabbing onto Ka and pushing her out of the way. He forces the two into the corner of the room, firing again. but Aang spins out of the corner and against the back wall, lowering his head quickly. The prince follows him instead of keeping Ka where she is, and she looks around the room for anything to use. The window near the top of the room is open, and when she smells salt water, Ka's eyes widen and she quickly bends a stream of water into her hands.

She freezes the prince's feet, keeping him in place, and he growls at her as he melts the ice with his hands. He sends a fire blast her way, but she spins out of the way and slides underneath him, kicking him down and landing beside Aang. Prince Zuko jumps up and sends an arc of flames their way, Ka jumping down to avoid it and Aang being smacked against a wall by it. He grabs a tapestry he's landed beside, and wraps it around Prince Zuko's body to distract him long enough to open the door.

The prince burns the tapestry and, in a panicked move, Aang airbends a nearby mattress into him slamming him against the metal wall, before it falls. He propels it upwards, and quickly grabs Ka's hand so they can run out before Prince Zuko can get up.

They run up to the main control room of the ship, and Aang leaps over the man at the helm to reach the upper deck. He throws his staff, opening the glider, and urges Ka to grab onto him before he leaps onto it, soaring away. Ka doesn't feel very sturdy on it, but she holds onto his waist with one hand and on the handle of the glider with the other.

Suddenly, a hand grabs onto her ankle, and she gasps in shock when the prince tries to climb up her body. She kicks at him, but the struggle and movement causes the glider to falter and Aang shouts when they crash onto the deck. Aang lands on his back while Ka lands on her knees, and she takes a deep breath, pushing her hair from her face and frowning angrily.

Prince Zuko rises and Aang airbends himself to his feet. All three prepare to fight, but before they can do anything, a familiar growl interrupts. Turning, they see Appa charging towards the ship.

"What is that?" Prince Zuko asks.

"Appa!" Aang shouts excitedly.

The prince takes his chance to send a fire blast their way, and Aang just barely manages to deflect it by spinning his glider. The impact sends them flying onto the ledge of the ship, and Ka manages to catch him before he falls. They lean precariously over the edge, and only manage to keep their balance until Prince Zuko blasts more fire their way. Aang loses his grip on his glider and spins to avoid another blast, kicking Ka further onto the ship with his airbending in a last-minute attempt. The prince hurls another wave of embers, and Aang suddenly closes his eyes ans falls backwards into the water.

Ka gasps, horrified, and avoids a fire blast from one of the soldiers by rolling over. She hears Katara shouting Aang's name, and _oh no,_ she's failed _again,_ she _has_ to get to the water, she has to _save_ him—

A feeling of overwhelming power overtakes her, and it's like she is not even herself. She loses all sense of thinking, and her mind goes blank. Her eyes and black tattoos glow white, and uses water from the ocean to propel herself upwards and knock the other soldiers down. Her Avatar emerges from the sea in a spinning vortex of water. The prince looks up in horror— _he is a fool to think he could defeat us,_ a voice in Ka's mind says—and stumbles when her Avatar falls to land directly beside her.

They must look terrifying.

Aang and Ka bring their hands above their head and spin, moving around each other gracefully, and the water from the vortex swirls around the two of them, forming a protective circle. They sweep their arms out, sending the water charging out, knocking the prince and his soldiers off their feet and shoving them so far back the prince falls over the edge of his ship.

When the water falls, so do the Avatar and the Minder, and they both collapse on the ground, the glow on their eyes and tattoos disappearing.

Appa lands on the deck of the ship, and Katara and Sokka jump out of his saddle to run towards them. Katara kneels down, grabbing onto Aang while Sokka reaches for Ka's arms and pull her up.

"Aang, Ka, are you okay?" she asks worriedly.

"Hey, Katara. Hey, Sokka," Aang says weakly. "Thanks for coming."

"Well, I couldn't let you have _all_ the glory," Sokka jokes, letting go of Ka when he waves her off.

"I dropped my staff," Aang mumbles, pointing vaguely in the direction of his beloved staff.

Sokka rises and runs over to it. "Got it!" When he grabs it, he screams when he sees the prince's hand grab onto the other end of it. Sokka pulls on it, but when it seems the other is relentless, he pushes it forward and pokes him repeatedly in the head until he falls backwards. He barely manages to grasp the chain of the anchor, the ocean below him rising and falling, as if threatening to swallow him whole.

"Ha!" Sokka shouts, swinging his arm. "That's from the Water Tribe!"

Katara helps Aang and Ka onto Appa, pushing them up. When she turns to shout for Sokka, she instead sees three soaking wet soldiers approaching her maliciously. She takes a step back and bites her lip, hesitantly swinging her arms to waterbend at them, but the water goes backwards, encasing Sokka's legs in ice.

"Katara!" Sokka shouts.

Katara quickly turns around, closing her eyes and repeating the same motion. She pauses before turning back around, seeing the soldiers frozen the same way as Sokka, one of them with his arm outstretched. She stares at them with an odd look before turning on her heel and clambering onto Appa. "Hurry up, Sokka!"

Sokka pulls out his boomerang and chips at the ice. "I'm just a guy, with a boomerang," he mutters to himself, pulling out one leg and hitting at the other. "I didn't ask for all this flying and _magic!_ " He stumbles out of the ice and races up Appa's tail. "Yip-yip! Yip-yip!"

Ka startles, fully awake as Appa takes off. She grips his fur with wide eyes, terrified as he flies past the cabin. He only barely manages to gain altitude before she turns and sees a large, powerful wave of fire heading their direction.

Aang leaps onto the saddle and jumps forward, spinning once to create enough force with his staff to send the fireball flying into the nearby cliff side. It causes an avalanche, and Ka pinches her face in guilt when the snow and ice falls onto the deck of the ship, visibly trapping a few soldiers underneath. Aang lands back onto the saddle, laughing with his friends, while Ka leans over to watch the ship slowly disappear from view.

* * *

"Good news for the Fire Lord," Iroh says. "The Fire Nation's greatest threats are just a little kid and a teenage girl."

"Those _threats,_ Uncle, just did _this._ " Zuko angrily gestures to the ship. "I won't underestimate them again." He turns to his soldiers and points at the snow. "Dig the ship out and follow them!"

The soldiers have fire in their hands, attempting to melt the ice coating the other soldiers.

Zuko turns around, embarrassed. "As soon as you're done with that."

* * *

The sunset is very pretty, Ka decides. This is her first time seeing it. She is almost so distracted by it that she misses Katara's words.

"How did you do that!?" she exclaims, looking between Aang and Ka. "With the water? It was the most _amazing_ thing I've ever seen!"

Aang sits on the edge of the saddle, Ka close beside him. He frowns. "I don't know," he answers honestly, looking towards Ka. When she doesn't say anything, he goes, "We just sort of... did it."

Katara turns serious. "Why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar?"

"Because..." Aang turns his head away. "I never wanted to be." It's a harsh parallel to Ka and Aang's conversation earlier.

Sokka suddenly speaks up, "Sorry for accusing you of being Fire Nation." His apology is directed at Ka more than anything. "And... that we didn't believe you."

Ka looks down, suddenly embarrassed. "It is alright," she says softly.

"Aang, the world's been _waiting_ for the Avatar and the Minder to return and _finally_ put an end to this war," Katara says, in reply to Aang.

"And how are we going to do that?" Aang asks, his voice soft.

"According to the legend, you need to master water, then earth, then fire, right?" Katara continues, "with air for Ka."

"That's what the monks told me," Aang says.

"Well," Katara says, smiling, "if we go to the North Pole, you can master waterbending!" She looks at Ka. "Do you need to master it too?"

Ka blinks. She nods once. "Yes..." she replies, deciding to answer with her voice instead. She knows a great many bending stances, as well as the history behind the element, but she cannot consider herself a master when she has only been able to waterbend for a day.

Aang turns to face her, his smile rivaling hers. "We can learn it together!"

Katara turns to face her brother, her smile turning sly. "And Sokka, I'm sure you'll get to knock some firebender heads on the way."

Sokka leans back. "I'd like that. I'd _really_ like that."

"Then we're in this together!" Katara clenches her fist determinedly.

Aang suddenly pulls out a scroll. "All right, but before we learn waterbending, we have some _serious_ business to attend to." He airbends himself on the saddle, spreading the scroll between them. He points to various locations, "here, here, and here."

"What's there?" Katara asks, pointing.

"Here, we'll ride the hopping llamas," Aang explains, and then points to a place in the Air Nation. "Then _way_ over here, we'll surf on the backs of giant koi fish. Then back over here, we'll ride the hog monkeys."

Ka, Sokka, and Katara all look at each other.

"They don't like people riding them, but that's what makes it fun!"

He's smiling so brightly Ka can't help but try to mirror it. She's never been so grateful to be out of the Spirit World.

* * *

They stop for camp, and that night Ka dreams of swamps and spirits and glowing orange orbs. She awakens to a beautiful sunrise, peeking over cliffs. They reflect on the water and bathe the scenery in a calm light. She stares for a moment, mesmerized, and is only startled out of her trance when Katara puts a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you alright?" she asks.

Ka blushes in embarrassment. "Um... yes. I have." She pauses, curses her voice for being so fragile. "I have never seen... a sunrise."

Katara blinks, tilts her head to the side in bewilderment. "Where are you from?"

Ka realizes—she's never told Katara or Sokka her original home. "Spirit World," she replies.

The girl staring at her looks like she's about to ask even more confused questions, but before she can, Aang laughs excitedly, catching their attention.

"Wait till you see it, Katara!" he says excitedly, tightening the knots to the reins on Appa's horns. "The Air Temple is one of the most beautiful places in the world!"

Katara climbs up Appa to fiddle with their luggage, packing it up and placing it in the saddle "Aang, I know you're excited," she starts carefully, "but it's been a hundred years since you've been home."

"That's why I'm so excited!"

Ka had almost forgot Aang has been frozen in ice for a hundred years. She, herself, has not existed that long. When she remembers she is not original, she was not the original Minder, her mood deflates, and she wordlessly wraps up the sleeping bag the Water Tribe siblings oh so kindly lent to her.

She does not pay attention to the rest of the commotion, her expression stoic and eyes sad. She feels guilty for even being upset, but the feeling overtakes her nonetheless. She became the Minder by chance.

It was hardly destiny.

* * *

They make it to the Air Temple, and, initially, Aang is ecstatic to be back home, but when he realizes how empty and dead the temple is, his mood quickly goes down, and Ka can feel it. She feels his disappointment and his sadness, and that is when she realizes he is unaware of the massacre of his people.

She moves to go tell him, but Katara stops her, and Ka cannot find it in her to protest. Her voice feels gone, ripped from her throat.

Instead, she watches as Aang and Sokka fumble with this airball game, and tries not to let her frown show too much.

(Because if there's one thing she has always been good at, it's keeping a straight face.)

* * *

Katara finds Fire Nation helmets, but before Aang has the chance to see them, she bends snow over them and Sokka. Ka shakes her head in disapproval—nothing good will come out of hiding the truth, because sooner or later, he will find out. She tells Katara that much, or, tries to, and Katara only ignores her as she follows Aang.

"Hey guys! I want you to meet somebody!"

Aang stands in front of a statue of a monk, and when Ka suddenly feels like she knows him, she wonders if her connection to Aang is becoming stronger simply because they are in a place he knows well.

"Who's that?" Sokka asks.

"Monk Gyatso!" Aang exclaims, turning back to the statue with a smile. "The greatest airbender in the world. He taught me everything I know."

Aang bows to the statue, and Ka suddenly feels compelled to do the same. A feeling suddenly overtakes her, one similar to what she felt on the prince's ship, but not the same.

* * *

 _"But the true secret, is in the gooey center."_

 _Monk Gyatso pulls a long wooden paddle out of an oven. The paddle has a fruit pie on the top, and he leans forward to airbend the fruit center into a spiral._

 _"Hmm..." Aang says distantly, staring into space._

 _Gyatso places the cake next to the others, and walks up to the ledge his pupil sits on._

 _"My ancient cake-making technique isn't the only thing on your mind, is it, Aang?"_

 _"This whole Avatar thing," Aang says, leaning up slightly, "maybe... the monks made a mistake."_

 _Gyatso shakes his head. "The only mistake they made was telling you before you turned sixteen, but we can't concern ourselves with what was. We must act on what is." He gestures to the rest of the temple, and he and Aang watch the life move and live for a few moments._

 _"But Gyatso, how do I know if I'm ready for this?" Aang asks suddenly._

 _"Your questions will be answered when you're old enough to enter the air temple sanctuary. Inside, you will meet someone who will guide you on your journey."_

 _Aang perks up, curious. "Who is it? Is it my Minder?"_

 _Gyatso chuckles softly. "No. When you are ready, he will reveal himself to you." Aang visibly deflates and looks up to the sky with his face in his hands._

 _Monk Gyatso smiles._

 _"Now, are you going to help me with these cakes, or not?"_

* * *

When Ka is suddenly brought back, she flinches. She feels like she's violated part of Aang's deepest memories, and she is not even sure what brought it on.

 _The connection between an Avatar and their Minder,_ she thinks, _is incredibly strong._

* * *

Inside the air temple sanctuary are statues, of past Avatars and smaller statues of their Minders put beside them. There are no names on the statues, but Ka feels as if she knows every single one, and the size of the statues irritate her.

Aang and Ka stop in front of the last statue, and Ka's eyes widen. It's Avatar Roku, and beside him is a small statue of Divya. She resists the urge to reach out and touch it, and Aang is seemingly mesmerized by the sight of it.

Katara shakes Aang's shoulders. "Aang! Snap out of it!?"

"Huh?" Aang says, dazedly.

"Who is that?" Katara asks.

"That's Avatar Roku," Aang replies, "the Avatar before me." His eyes linger on the airbending Minder statue.

Ka points to it. "Divya," she says.

"You were a firebender? No wonder I didn't trust you when we first met!" Sokka says.

"There's no writing. How do you know their names?" Katara asks.

"I'm not sure. I just know it somehow," Aang replies honestly. Ka wants to say, _I knew them. They were my teachers._ But the words don't come out, and she finds herself stuck in silence once more.

* * *

They encounter a lemur, and Aang runs after it so quickly Ka barely sees him go. She doesn't go after him at first, but she suddenly gets an awful feeling in her gut, so she apologizes to Katara before following Aang and Sokka on their chase.

She manages to catch up with him after running down several flights of stairs and out into the main area.

"Hey! Come back!" she hears Aang says, and sees him enter through decaying curtains. "Come on out, little lemur! That hungry guy won't bother you anymore."

He walks past more drapes, and when he parts them, he stops in place. Ka rushes to his side, and her breath escapes her when she sees the skeletons dressed in Fire Nation uniforms. In the center, lying in the snow, there is a skeleton dressed in yellow robes, with a round necklace around it.

Aang exhales slowly and drops to his knees, letting out a tearful sigh. Ka puts her hand on his back, squeezing her eyes shut as Aang's feelings of despair wash over her. Aang sobs into his hands as someone else pulls apart the drapes.

"Hey, Aang! You find my dinner yet?" Bad timing, Ka thinks, as Sokka walks up. "Aang, I wasn't _really_ going to eat the lemur, okay?" It takes him a few moments to see, and he does a double take. "Oh, man." He puts a hand on the shoulder Ka isn't leaning on. "Come on, Aang. Everything will be all right. Let's get out of here."

It will not be alright. Ka trembles when she feels power overtake her again, her eyes and tattoos glowing in a mirror to Aang's. They lift their heads in unison, and the sound of Sokka gasping sounds distant in her ears. She feels as if the entire world has their eyes on her, on them, on the Avatar and the Minder.

A whirlwind of freezing air begins to form around the two of them, like a shield. Sokka is still shouting, but whatever he is saying becomes lost, and the shield of air expands far enough to destroy the roof of the dilapidated building and send all the bones flying. It is almost like a furious tornado, and debris and parts of the building start to smash and fly all around.

The shield rises higher and higher, and Ka can feel tears stream down her face. It is almost like she and Aang are one—she can feel his grief, his anger, his guilt, his despair. She wonders, for a moment, what of _her_ emotions he can feel, but those thoughts are quickly shoved aside when the sound of Katara's voice cuts through it all.

"Aang! I know you're upset and I know how hard it is to lose the people you love," she shouts. "I went through the same thing when I lost my mom." She pauses for a moment, and the sound of air blowing is so intense Katara sounds like she is miles away. "Monk Gyatso and the other airbenders may be gone, but you _still_ have a family. Sokka and Ka and I, _we're_ your family now!"

They begin to descend, the air becoming weaker and warmer and dying down until they land on the ground, staring off into the distance.

"Katara, Ka, and I aren't going to let anything happen to you. Promise."

The power suddenly leaves, the glowing fades away, and Aang and Ka stumble to the ground in exhaustion. Sokka and Katara catch them, holding them tight. Ka absently wipes the tears away, while Aang just lets them fall.

"I'm sorry," Aang says softly.

"It's okay," Katara assures. "It wasn't your fault."

"But you were right," Aang weakly protests. "And if the firebenders found this temple, that means they found the other ones, too." He closes his eyes and sniffles. "I really am the last airbender."

* * *

When they pack, new lemur in tow, Ka stares at Aang as he watches the air temple he once called home fade from view.

She looks down at her lap, and remembers the overwhelming feeling of power and desolation she felt all at once.

Clenching her fists, she closes her eyes and tries not to cry.

* * *

 **so, yeah, there we go. how was that? it was longer than i originally planned, but oh well.**

 **hopefully it's getting to be more interesting. ka is a very complicated young person.**

 **review, please!**


	3. season one: episodes 4-6

**so writing this has proven to be very fun. i hope reading it gives the same feeling. i love to write, and i hope my writing is readable and enjoyable for the people who have been reading this thus far, or have only just clicked on it.**

 **anyway, here's chapter three.**

* * *

"What's it like in the Spirit World?"

They have been flying for quite some time, and in the absence of any interesting conversation topics, the group has turned to asking questions about Ka and where she comes from. She wasn't expecting the questions, and it took quite a few tries for her voice to work for the first answer.

"Warm," she replies bluntly, blinking up at Katara, who has taken a break from her sewing. "Like a swamp." Then she pauses. "But that is not... how the entire Spirit World is like. Just where I lived."

Sokka frowns. "A _swamp?_ "

"Yes," Ka says quietly, looking down at her folded hands in her lap. "I... have—have never been to the other part."

"So you were born there?" Katara's eyes are sparkling, like she is genuinely interested in this, and the thought of it makes Ka's face feel warm.

She nods, and her mind is filled with thoughts of her father. She suppresses a shudder.

"How'd you get to the physical world then?"

Ka looks up, and wordlessly points at Aang. The boy in question blinks owlishly, looking up from his map and between the two girls.

 _Speaking of Aang._

"You have no idea where you're going, do you?" Sokka deadpans, and as the topic changes, so does Katara's focus, and Ka watches quietly as her fingers move through the fabric of Sokka's pants.

"Well..." Aang says. "I know it's near water!"

They are over a vast body of water, and Ka suddenly has the urge to laugh. She covers her mouth in surprise.

"I guess we're getting close then," Sokka drawls sarcastically.

Aang looks over at Katara, watching her sew Sokka's pants the same way Ka is doing. He looks at Momo, and grins, "Momo, marbles please." Momo dives into his shirt and comes back out with two small marbles. "Hey Katara, check out this airbending trick!"

He holds the marbles in his closed palms before bringing them out with a flourish, spinning the two marbles with airbending so quickly it looks like one. He's grinning even wider now, and Ka tilts her head at the display, but Katara does not notice and instead continues to sew.

"That's great, Aang," she says distantly.

"You didn't even look," Aang says, frowning, letting the marbles fall into his open palm.

Katara pauses before looking over at him. "That's great!"

"But I'm not doing it now."

Sokka waves his arm dismissively. "Stop bugging her, airhead," he says. "You need to give girls space when they do their sewing."

Katara immediately halts, casting her brother an irritated glare. "What does me being a _girl_ have to do with sewing?" she asks, daring him to continue.

He does, not even noticing her glare. He leans back against Appa's saddle lazily. "Simple," Sokka says, and Ka already does not like where this is going. "Girls are better at fixing pants than guys and guys are better at hunting and fighting and stuff like that."

Katara's eye twitches.

"It's just the natural order of things," Sokka finishes.

Katara suddenly smiles. "All done with your pants!" she says loudly, sarcastically, holding up the unfinished pants, "and look what a _great_ job I did!"

She angrily throws them at his face, and Sokka is shoved backwards by the sheer force of it. He struggles to get it off his face, and shoves an arm through the large hole that is still not fixed.

"Wait! I was just kidding!" he pleads. "I can't wear these—Katara, please!"

Ka looks away from him, crossing her arms.

"Relax, Sokka," Aang says suddenly, and his voice is full of cheerfulness. "Where we're going, you won't need any pants!"

* * *

They land on a mountainous island, and Aang settles Appa on a beach. When they hop off, Aang immediately ignores the others to run up to the shore, holding his hand up to his forehead and squinting into the distance.

"We just made a pit stop yesterday," Sokka says. "Shouldn't we get a little more flying done before we camp out?"

"He's right," Katara agrees. "At this rate, we won't get to the North Pole until spring."

"We should keep going," Ka says, but she has a feeling Aang is not going to listen to anything they are saying.

"But Appa's tired, aren't you boy?" Aang tries, false innocence lacing his tone. When Appa doesn't react, Aang nudges Appa with his elbow. "I said, _aren't_ you boy?"

Appa yawns loudly, even swaying a little to play the part. Ka purses her lips at the display.

"Yeah, that was _real_ convincing," Sokka scoffs. "Still, hard to argue with a ten-ton magical monster."

Aang suddenly runs forward, inhaling sharply and pointing excitedly at the ocean. "Look!" he shouts, and a giant fish suddenly jumps out of the water and splashes back in. He's laughing, and bounces up and down for a moment, oblivious to the awestruck looks of the Water Tribe siblings behind him. "That's why we're here," he explains, pulling his clothes over his head and turning to look back at them. "Elephant koi, and I'm gonna ride it. Katara, you've gotta watch me!"

Ka's eyes widen when he immediately dives into the water, only to jump out and scream, " _Cold!_ " She watches as he swims out as far as he can, tilting her head when he disappears underneath the water. Waiting, anxiety bubbling in her chest, she jumps in shock when the koi fish appears again, only this time, with Aang holding onto the back fin. He waves at them, laughing excitedly, and Katara cheers back.

More koi fish come to join him when they jump out, and for a moment, Ka wants to go out and join him. She looks down at the water, and realizes with a start she has never swam before. She isn't sure she knows how—it wasn't a skill she was taught in the Spirit World.

"He looks pretty good out there," Katara says.

"Are you kidding?" Sokka says back, unimpressed. "The fish is doing all the work!"

Katara looks past Sokka's head and gasps. "No, Appa, _don't_ eat that!" She runs off, and Ka sees the smile immediately fall from Aang's face when he notices.

She frowns sympathetically at him, but that frown is quickly morphed into a look of horror when Ka sees a large dark shadow appear underneath the water's surface, speeding in Aang's direction.

"There's something there," Ka whispers, and Sokka gives her an alarmed look.

One of the koi fish jumps out in an attempt to escape but to avail, for the shadow pulls it back under in a flash. Aang continues smiling, looking straight ahead, completely unaware.

"What's wrong?" Katara shouts as she runs back, taking note of of the others' expressions.

"Aang's in trouble," Sokka replies, and then shouts his name.

"Get out of there!" Katara follows.

Ka opens her mouth to yell, but no sound comes out, because never has she screamed before, _yelled._

Aang suddenly looks over at them, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion when he sees all three of his friends motioning for him to come back to shore.

"Get back here, Aang!"

He takes it the wrong way, giving a big grin and holding his hand in the air as if to wave, but the wave never happens because he is hurled off the koi fish when its pulled beneath the surface. Ka puts a hand over her mouth to hide her gasp. Aang plunges into the water, gasping for breath and turning around when he finally notices the shadow. The shadow turns into a fin, and Aang all but screams. He jumps out, using airbending to propel himself over the lake, and lands directly on top of Sokka when he gets to the shore.

Sokka rubs his head as he gets up, Aang moving to fetch his clothes.

"What _was_ that thing?" Katara asks, noticing the fin to be gone.

"I don't know," Aang replies honestly.

Ka hesitates before taking a closer step to him. "Are you okay?" she asks softly, mentally battering herself for being too frozen in shock to do anything about Aang.

Despite everything, Aang smiles at her and tells her everything's alright, and that somehow makes Ka's guilt even worse.

"Well, let's not stick around to find out," Sokka says, wiping his hands together. "Time to hit the road."

Suddenly, before any of them can even take a step, an ambush of warriors fall from the trees and land on top of each of them. Ka looks in alarm as a warrior yanks Katara's parka over her head and pulls her down, only to do the same to her and painfully twist her wrists behind her back. She has half a mind to bend the water, but the rope around her wrists burns when she twitches, and she decides against it, letting the warriors drag her.

She's thrown on the ground, and hears her friends' grunts as they, she assumed, are given the same treatment.

"Or, we could... stay a while," Sokka's voice says. Ka clicks her tongue.

* * *

The warriors drag the four to what Ka assumes to be a nearby village. She hears commotion and people whispering to one another, followed by a gasp when she's shoved against something solid. Her body is suddenly tied against the solid wall, and she struggles for a moment before hearing Aang's voice close to her.

"You four have some explaining to do," comes the voice of a man.

"And if you don't answer all our questions," comes a softer, much prettier, but fierce voice, "we're throwing you back in the water with the Unagi."

"Show yourselves, cowards!" Sokka shouts, and suddenly the blindfold is ripped from Ka's face.

She squeezes her eyes shut when the sun blinds her momentarily, and blinks a few times before her vision clears. There is a gathering of villagers behind five girls in green kimonos, wearing what looks like ceremonial white and red face paint. They are all very beautiful, and their faces are tinted with expressions of suspicion.

"Who are you? Where are the men who ambushed us?" Sokka asks aggressively, leaning over the ropes, even though it is incredibly obvious the armed girls were the ones who took them down.

One of them steps forward, the one with the shortest hair. "There were no men. _We_ ambushed you," she replies, clenching her fist. "Now tell us, who are you and what are you doing here?"

Sokka scoffs, and looks over at Aang and Ka with an amused grin. "Wait a second, there's no way that a bunch of _girls_ took us down."

The short-haired warrior steps forward and yanks Sokka forward by his collar. "A bunch of girls, huh?" she spits. "The Unagi is gonna eat well tonight."

"No, don't hurt him!" Katara pleads, looking over. "He didn't mean it. My brother is just an idiot sometimes."

The warrior glares at him before shoving him back into the pole. She takes a step back, putting her hands on her hips.

"It's my fault," Aang says suddenly, frowning. "I'm sorry we came here. I wanted to ride the elephant koi."

The older man, who looks to be the leader of the village, angrily narrows his eyes. "How do we know you're not Fire Nation spies?" he asks, pointing at them with an accusing finger. "Kyoshi stayed out of the war so far. And we intend to keep it that way!"

Aang brightens up, and Ka lifts her head at the familiar name. "This island is named for Kyoshi?" Aang asks, and shares a look with Ka. "We know Kyoshi!"

The leader laughs humorlessly. "How could you possibly know her? Avatar Kyoshi was born here four hundred years ago. She's been dead for centuries!"

Aang purses his lips. "We know her because I'm the Avatar," he nudges his head towards Ka, "and this is my Minder."

Ka tries to wave, but her wrists remain bound behind her. The villagers stare at them in shock, and the leader looks somewhat speechless.

"That's impossible!" the short-haired warrior speaks up again, shaking her fist. "The last Avatar was an airbender who disappeared a hundred years ago." She spares a glance at Ka. "And the last Minder was a waterbender who died years ago."

"That's us," Ka murmurs as Aang gives a sheepish grin.

The leader of the village and the leader of the warriors look at each other. Suddenly, the leader thrusts his finger towards them, "Throw the impostors to the Unagi!"

The warriors reach into their bands and pull out golden metal fans, jerking their wrist to snap them open. Moving into a stance, they slowly and threateningly move forward towards the group.

Katara leans to her right. "Aang... do some airbending," she whispers nervously.

Aang pauses before pushing himself off the ground, leaving a dust cloud in his wake. The ropes stretch enough to break both he and Ka loose, and uses the top of the statue to snap the ones on his wrist. He flips over the statue, and Ka takes a step forward to be beside him when he hovers down, the air fluttering around them.

"Wow!" whisper the villagers.

"Did you see that?"

"Airbender!"

The leader and the warriors are rendered speechless. They stare at them for a few moments, before the leader puts a hand over his mouth.

"It's true..." he says.

Aang suddenly gets a serious look on his face. "Now..." he starts dramatically, and pulls out his marbles from underneath his robes, "check _this_ out!" The trick he performed for Katara before is given a much more enthusiastic reaction by the villagers. They cheer and jump, while a young man in the front shrieks and faints, foam spilling from his mouth.

Ka only watches him with wide eyes, and then lamely looks back up at the villagers. She only wishes she had something impressive to show them, to prove she was the Minder, apart from her Avatar's input.

She just stands there, as they all cheer and admire the last airbender.

* * *

"All right, dessert for breakfast!" Aang shouts, throwing his arms in the air.

Katara gazes out at the assortment of decadent desserts, poking one of the orange puffs curiously. Katara picks it up, sniffing it, and widens her eyes when Aang immediately starts stuffing his face with multiple desserts.

"These people sure know how to treat an Avatar," he says, voice muffled. "Mmm..." He picks up one, and glances at Katara, holding it out to her. "Katara, you've got to try these!"

"Well..." Katara sighs, smiling a little, and takes the dessert, "maybe just a little." She takes a bite, and immediately reaches for another of the same desert.

Sokka walks in, his arms crossed over his chest and his back hunched over. He angrily plops himself in a corner, staring off into space with an irritated expression on his face.

"Sokka, what's your problem?" Aang asks. "Eat!"

"Not hungry," Sokka replies bluntly..

Aang's eyes go wide in surprise. "But you're _always_ hungry!"

Katara snorts. "He's just upset because a bunch of _girls_ kicked his butt yesterday."

"Sneak attacks don't count!" Sokka defends, jumping to his feet and throwing his hands in the air. "Tie me up with ropes," he mumbles to himself. "I'll show them a thing or two." He walks to the table, shoving some of the desserts into his arms. "I'm not scared of any girls," he continues to mutter. "Who do they think they are anyway?" He shoves one of the desserts in his mouth as he stomps off. "Mmm... this is tasty."

"What's he so angry about?" Aang asks when Sokka is gone. "It's great here! They're giving us the royal treatment!" He then pauses, looking around the room, and gives Katara a confused look. "Have you seen Ka?"

"She went off to explore a while ago," Katara replies, giving a one-shouldered shrug, and then notices Aang looking out at the village. "Hey, don't get too comfortable. It's risky for us to stay in one place for very long."

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Aang says, handing Momo a treat. "Besides, did you see how happy we're making this town?" He scoots up to the window, pointing to the statue in the distance. "They're even cleaning up that statue in my honor!" He taps a finger to his chin. "I wonder if there's a statue of Avatar Kyoshi's Minder somewhere..."

"Well," Katara relents, "it's nice to see you excited about being the Avatar. I just hope it doesn't all go to your head."

"Come on, you know me better than that!" Aang says. "I'm just a simple monk."

He leans over the window sill, leaning forward and grinning at the sight. Suddenly, there's a collective scream, and Aang looks down to see a gathering of the village's girls standing outside, waving their arms and giggling. Aang smiles, blushing.

Katara crosses her arms behind him, rolling her eyes.

* * *

There are only vague hints of Avatar Kyoshi's Minder across the island.

Ka despises how upset she feels—this is the island where Kyoshi was _born,_ so of course it would be dedicated to _her._

(But there is remotely nothing. It's almost as if Kyoshi never had a Minder in the first place. Surely, there must be _something._ )

Ka finds herself stumbling upon what looks like a small shrine. She blinks at the entrance, and quietly walks in. It leads to a small, dimly-lit room filled with artifacts and items. In the center is a bust sculpture that holds a golden headdress. Off to the side is a green kimono complete with old-looking fans and a pair of boots.

She looks around, careful not to accidentally break or touch anything. She stares at the boots for a few moments, admiring and also somewhat fearing the size of them. There is a piece of artwork on the wall, depicting what looks like Kyoshi standing in front of a sunset. Ka tilts her head, observing the brushwork for a few moments, until something different from the rest of the shrine's items catches her eye.

It is a red robe hanging in a small corner of the shrine. Ka takes a step forward, and looks down to see a pair of brown and golden slippers placed at the bottom of the robe. There is a bronze sword hanging above the robe, rusted and generally unkempt.

"I see you have found the shrine," comes a voice, and Ka gasps, whirling around to see the leader of the village, Oyaji, standing at the doorway with his hands behind his back.

"I-I'm sorry," Ka stammers. "Am I... not to be here?"

Oyaji shakes his head, and walks closer to her. "It is a shrine open to the public. We keep it safe."

"A shrine..." Ka murmurs. "For Avatar Kyoshi?" she guesses, her voice slowly becoming softer. Ever since she began using her voice more often, it occasionally dies on her—sometimes suddenly, and sometimes gradual.

"And for her Minder," Oyaji sighs, gesturing to the array of red and golden clothing. "Minder Kazuki."

Ka blinks at him, and turns to observe the clothing. She takes in the work, and the insignia embedded into the belt of the red robe. "Fire Nation," she whispers in realization.

"The Fire Nation has not been especially kind to the world in the last hundred years," Oyaji says. "So the people prefer for any resemblance of them to be hidden away."

Ka frowns.

Noticing her expression, Oyaji shakes his head. "There was a rumor that Avatar Kyoshi and Minder Kazuki were lovers," he says, and Ka turns to him in shock. "Minder Kazuki was respected all the same, but when the war began, all visions of the Fire Nation turned negative, and all accounts of their relationship were destroyed." He lowers his gaze. "The leader before me wished to destroy the part of the shrine that worshiped the firebending Minder." He points to the robes, sword, and shoes. "This is what I managed to salvage of that display."

Ka gently runs her fingertips over the fabric. She can feel the dust collecting on it.

"But the Avatar and the Minder have finally returned, together," Oyaji continues, and nods his head once, firmly, "so I think it is time to restore this shrine to its former glory once more."

This time, Ka lets herself smile.

"Thank you," she says softly.

* * *

Ka walks past a large building just as Sokka storms out of it. He stomps over to the nearby tree, folding his arms over his chest and flopping on the ground. A pile of snow from one of the branches falls directly on top of him.

She stares openly, and then curiously turns to the building. Walking up towards it, she peeks inside to see the warriors (called the Kyoshi Warriors, she's learned) practicing some kind of routine together. They unleash their fans, spinning in a circle and slicing the air with one fan, before punching out their other hand.

"Hey," comes a voice from inside, and Ka flinches. She's been noticed. "You're the Minder, aren't you?"

When they all start to walk up to her, Ka hesitantly steps out into the entrance, walking inside sheepishly.

"I apologize," she blurts. "I... did not mean to disturb you."

The leader of the warriors, the short-haired one, shakes her head and smiles. "You aren't disturbing us at all! It's an honor to be in your presence, Minder."

Ka shakes her hands in front of her when they all bow deeply. "Call... me Ka."

"Alright," she says. "Call me Suki."

Ka nods, and stares at her blankly. "Um..." she starts hesitantly. "Do you think—" It's at that moment that her voice chooses to die on her, and she blinks, trying not to let her embarrassment show on her face. "You could. Teach me? Something?" She struggles to get the words out, but she manages.

Suki and the other warriors stare at her uncertainly, and Ka opens her mouth to apologize, but Suki beats her to the punch.

"I'd love to have a new student," Suki says happily, looking almost honored, and takes Ka's hands. "We may have to use a bit of extra makeup on you to cover your skin and tattoos, but I think it'll look great!"

Ka cannot bring it in her to refuse, so she nods, and gasps when the warriors all grab her at once.

* * *

When one of the girls starts to unfold a green kimono and lay out armor, Suki suddenly discovers something underneath all the piles, and holds it up in awe.

It's a kimono similar to those of the Kyoshi Warriors, except it is emblazoned in an array of rich reds and bright golds, and the hem ends mid-thigh, with a pair of dark brown pants covering the rest. On the back is a small insignia of fire, somewhat different than the Fire Nation's insignia. The armor around it is black, and the sash that wraps around the shoulder and waist is a lace gold.

"We threw this away _years_ ago because it was Fire Nation," Suki says. "But it belonged to the protectors of Avatar Kyoshi's Minder."

 _Different than Kyoshi Warriors,_ Ka thinks, but the uniform is admirable all the same.

"You should put this one on," Suki decides firmly, and gives a warm smile. "It would suit the Minder, rather than the uniform of an Avatar."

Ka catches the uniform when Suki tosses it at her, and she takes a moment of admire it. When she manages it on over her body, it is slightly too loose on her. The girls surround her and take different parts of the uniform, pulling it taut around her form so it does not drag nor does it feel too restricting.

"Here," Suki says, holding up three bowls of paint.

One of the girls stands behind her and gathers her hair in her arms, holding it behind her face (and it's a noticeable struggle, because Ka knows she has a lot of hair). Suki dips a brush into the white paint, and gently applies it to her face, down her neck. It takes a few moments, but Ka feels the sticky wetness already when she's done. Suki then adds the red over her eyes, but then takes out what looks like a golden hue of paint. She applies it just above her eyelids, and when she's done, she very near squeals and claps her hands together.

"You look amazing!" Suki exclaims, the other girls giving their voices of agreement. The clutch on Ka's hair falls, only to be replaced with the same pair of hands moving it into a tight bun at the top of her head. "That's so it won't get in your way." She leans over and places a red headdress around her head, fitting it into her hair.

One of the girls hands her a pair of fans, and Ka stands up unsurely. Her body feels heavy, but it also feels... _powerful,_ and Suki gives her a firm nod, her expression suddenly serious.

" _Now_ you're ready," she declares, and Ka's temporary training begins.

* * *

Fighting with fans is a lot more difficult than it looks, and Ka is only halfway through mastering one move when Sokka suddenly walks inside. He looks at all of them, and when his eyes land on Ka, he reflexively flinches backwards, before taking in her white hair and violet eyes. He visibly exhales.

"Uh..." Sokka begins timidly. "Hey, Suki."

"Hoping for another dance lesson?" Suki spits, and Ka almost flinches at her harsh tone.

"No... I..." Sokka trails off, fumbling with his words. "Well, let me explain."

"Spit it out!" Suki interrupts. "What do you want?"

Sokka bites his lip, and then drops to his knees in front of her. "I would be honored if you would teach me."

"Even if I'm a _girl?_ " Suki does not even look fazed by his display.

"I'm sorry if I insulted you earlier," Sokka says back, looking away. "I was... wrong."

"We normally don't teach outsiders," Suki says, and Ka feels herself stiffen, but neither Suki nor any of the warriors even spare a glance at her, "let alone _boys._ "

"Please make an exception," Sokka says, finally looking at her. "I won't let you down."

Suki pretends to think for a moment. "All right," she says a bit more friendlier, "but you have to follow all of our traditions."

"Of course!" Sokka exclaims.

Suki dons a sly smile, and Ka already knows where she's going with this. "And I mean _all_ of them."

A few moments later, Sokka is donned into the Kyoshi Warrior uniform in the same fashion Ka was, and he stands in an odd pose in the middle of the dojo for a few embarrassed moments.

"Do I really have to wear this?" he asks. "It feels a little... girly."

"It's a warrior's uniform, you should be proud," Suki scoffs. "The silk threads symbolize the brave blood that flows through our veins. The gold insignia represents the honor of a warrior's heart."

As Sokka puts his hands on his hips and puffs out his chest with a smile, Ka sees Aang walk by the entrance of the building.

"Bravery and honor," Sokka repeats proudly.

"Hey Sokka!" Aang says, popping his head in. "Nice dress!"

Sokka curls up in embarrassment, averting his gaze. Suki's smile only widens, and Ka puts a hand over her mouth in amusement.

* * *

Eventually, most of the Kyoshi Warriors leave so Suki can tutor Sokka in private. Ka follows their lead, and when she walks into the village, she can feel all the villagers' eyes on her. She wonders if she should have taken off her uniform before leaving, but walking back in would be too awkward at this point.

Instead, she settles for sheepishly taking out her golden fans and practicing on her own behind one of the buildings. During one move, she accidentally bends the snow beneath her, and pauses for a moment before settling into one of the waterbending forms Divya taught her.

She shifts through the stances, moving her body forward and lifting her leg. She raises her arms, and the water follows, the fans only helping to emphasize it.

Ka continues this way until Oyaji suddenly appears next to her, and despite everything, he recognizes her right away.

"The Fire Nation is here for you and the Avatar," he says. "We must hide! Quickly!"

Ka begins to follow him, but then she stops, and looks at the fans in her hand. When Oyaji turns to look back at her, she shakes her head firmly.

"I did not acquire these fans for nothing," she says.

Oyaji does not say a word, but only nods, and runs away.

Ka follows the other Kyoshi Warriors when they urge the villagers into their homes, and move to hide behind buildings. They plan to ambush the Fire Nation when they enter the main street of the village, and Ka sees Suki catch up with them.

Ka climbs up to the roof, ducking behind it and peeking over the edge. She sees Prince Zuko, for the first time since the South Pole, riding a rhino along with a few other soldiers.

"Come out, Avatar and Minder!" he shouts. "You can't hide from me forever!" What meets him is silence, and the prince narrows his eyes. "Find them," he orders to his men.

The other rhinos move forward, the soldiers looking left and right into each building in a search. Ka sees one of the warriors open her fan on the other side of the street. She climbs down the building to get out of the other warriors' ways, and watches as three warriors jump from nearby roofs, landing on top of the soldiers and knocking them over. One of them lands right in front of a rhino, and when the soldier attempts to stab her with his spear, she wraps her fans around the end of the spear and twists him off, knocking him right into the wall of the nearby building with a powerful kick.

She sees Suki start to approach Prince Zuko, and runs to the roof of the building he is closest to. The prince grits his teeth at her, blasting fire in her direction, but she only avoids it. Suki jumps over a fireball and moves to kick at the prince's head, but the prince yanks the rhino's reins and turns it so the beast's tail sweeps her away. Sokka jumps in front of her when the next fire blast comes her way, dissipating the flames with a twirl of his fan. He moves into a fighting position, but Ka swings from the roof and kicks Prince Zuko off his rhino, pushing him to the ground.

"I guess training's over," she hears Sokka say, and jumps off the prince in order to point her fans in his direction.

Other Kyoshi Warriors come to surround him, as Prince Zuko slowly opens his eyes. He glances at all of them, and then suddenly pushes himself up and spins on his hand. He shoots fire out of his feet, which in turn causes all the Kyoshi Warriors flying back, knocking them all down. Ka twirls and bends water over the fire before it reaches her, the flames only lightly scorching the edges of her pants. The prince sends a fire blast Sokka's way and knocks him over, and then turns his attention to Ka. He stares at her in what looks like confusion for a moment, taking in her rather Fire Nation-looking appearance. But then he looks right into her eyes, and he widens his eyes.

"The Minder," he says, and takes on a fiercer fighting stance.

The prince takes a step closer and sweeps his fist close to her head, flames following it close behind, but Ka ducks her head and steps over one of his legs to swiftly move behind him. One of her hands goes to knock Prince Zuko in the side with her sharp fan, while the other sweeps around him to bend the snow right into his face. He shouts angrily and stumbles back into her, but she rolls to the side before he can fall on top of her. The prince steadies himself and Ka watches the snow melt from his face. He grits his teeth at her, but Ka remains completely expressionless, which only seems to make the prince even angrier. He clenches his fists at his sides, tiny dagger-shaped flames escaping from his tightened palms. Ka eyes them before looking at his face, and he charges at her. Ka traps his wrist with her two fans when one of the daggers gets dangerously close. She shoves her leg between his, pushing him against the wall and forcing his arm back. He yells in rage again, sweeping his leg against her side and knocking her into the snow.

Ka coughs a bit before jumping back up, crouching down only to quickly rise back up, her arms lifting and her fans flipping in her hands. The snow Prince Zuko stands on rises up his body, freezing his legs in place. The prince very nearly snarls, burning the ice and angrily kicking his other leg out.

"You annoying peasant," he spits at her. "You have _no_ right to wear a Fire Nation uniform."

Ka says nothing, and replies by returning to her fighting stance.

"Where is the Avatar!?" he demands.

"Hey!" comes Aang's voice, and Ka sighs internally. "Over here!"

Turning around, they see Aang standing at the front of the village, holding his staff in front of him.

"Finally!" the prince exclaims, turning his attention to Aang as he sends two fireballs at him.

Aang ducks underneath the first and uses his staff to decimate the next one. Ka leaps forward and bends the snow into Prince Zuko's side, knocking him over but not sending him to the ground. He slides across the snow, stumbling, and turns his head back with an irritated look. He kicks his leg back, sending a large sweep of flames in Ka's direction. She manages to block the majority of the flames with her fans, but the remaining fire knocks her on her back, and she lands messily in the snow.

The smirk on the prince's face makes her want to smack it right off, but she cannot find it in her to move.

Aang propels himself in the air, landing in front of the prince, except the latter only kicks the staff away. Aang jumps up to avoid another blast of fire, and lands beside a pair of fallen golden fans. He looks between them and the prince, before airbending them to his hands. Prince Zuko charges at him, and Aang spins around several times before almost flipping and surging the rush of air at the prince. The force sends him flying back, and his fall is audible.

Aang looks at the fans with wide eyes and drops them quickly. He runs to help Ka to her feet, pulling her up with one arm, and then grabs his staff. He throws it in the air, snapping it open, and jumps on. Ka jumps onto the top of it, and Aang fumbles a bit before managing to steady it, flying over the village that now burns. Looking back, the statue of Avatar Kyoshi is engulfed in flames.

They land beside Katara, who is urging a young girl into a house.

"Look what I brought to this place," Aang says.

Ka puts a hand on his shoulder. " _We,_ " she corrects.

"It's not your fault," Katara is quick to say.

"Yes, it is," Aang urges. "These people got their town destroyed trying to protect us."

"Then let's get out of here," Katara says, clenching her fist. "Zuko will leave Kyoshi to follow us. I know it feels wrong to run, but I think it's the only way."

Aang nods and lets his head drop. "I'll call Appa."

And so he does. They all scramble onto his saddle, and Aang urges him to fly moments later. They fly over burning buildings, and Ka sees, as Katara predicted, the prince and his soldiers rushing to catch up with them. She looks over the rim of the saddle, wiping the face paint off her face and frowning.

"I know it's hard," Katara comforts, "but you did the right thing. Zuko would have destroyed the whole place if we had stayed." She leans forward. "They're going to be okay."

Aang looks up with a strangely determined look on his face. He looks into Ka's eyes, and for a moment, she can see everything he is thinking. They are sharing the same thought, the same idea, and they nod at each other in unison.

They jump off the saddle, ignoring Katara's shouts of their names. Diving into the water, they swim deep enough to find the monster that had attacked Aang before. Aang grabs one of its whiskers while Ka the other, and emerge from the water, swaying off of it. They sturdy themselves atop the Unagi's head, and pull on the whiskers in unison. The Unagi opens its mouth, spraying gushing water from its mouth. They aim it over the town, letting the water rain and douse the flames.

They let go of the whiskers and the Unagi tosses them off its head. Appa flies down and catches both of them, and Ka jumps onto the saddle before pulling Aang up with her.

"I know, I know," Aang says, smiling as he settles on the saddle. "That was stupid and dangerous."

Katara's smile is even bigger. "Yes, it was." She leans forward and suddenly hugs the both of them, but Ka moves out of the embrace, and Katara's arms tighten around Aang.

He gasps and smiles, closing his eyes and accepting the warmth of her hug.

Ka looks at Sokka and eyes him up and down. "You are keeping it?" she asks, pointing to his uniform.

"Are you keeping that? " Sokka counters, gesturing to her own outfit.

Ka looks down, and then back up, her expression serious. "It represents a past Minder," she replies. "I do not see why not."

When there is no response, she looks around to see everyone staring at her. She tilts her head in a wordless question.

"That's the most I've ever heard you say in one sentence!" Katara exclaims.

"Oh," Ka says, and looks down at her lap.

They fly into the distance.

* * *

"What did you get up to on Kyoshi?" Aang asks when the moon is high and the others are asleep. "You left and then suddenly came back looking like, well," he gestures to Ka's clothing, "like a red Kyoshi Warrior!"

She looks down, and fumbles with the golden sash around her waist. "It is the dress of the protector of the Minder," she explains, and frowns. "The warriors thought it... more fitting."

"I think it looks nice," Aang says honestly, and Ka smiles, a very tiny one that almost doesn't make it to her face.

"I was exploring," Ka says. "Learning about Avatar Kyoshi's Minder."

"Really? What did you learn?" Aang crosses his legs and leans forward eagerly, propping his head up on his palms.

Ka pushes her hair back out of her face. "That her Minder was Fire Nation, obviously." Then she bites her bottom lip, and says, "And that he and Avatar Kyoshi are rumored lovers." She holds her hand out to Aang expectantly.

" _Lovers?_ " Aang repeats, his eyes going wide, and then he sees the hand extended out to him. "Huh?"

"You wish to follow the Avatar's footsteps, no?" Ka says.

Aang blinks a few times, and then his face goes red. "I—uh, I mean, you're really nice and um, beautiful, but—" Aang gestures vaguely to Katara's sleeping form, "Not to be mean! I just... well..."

Ka smiles, and puts her hand down. "Relax, Aang," she says, "it was a joke." She turns to lay down, turning her back to Aang, and listens to him sputter in confusion for a few moments.

It isn't until a few minutes later, when they're all nearly fast asleep, that Aang shouts,

" _You made a joke!?_ "

* * *

Ka does not enjoy her time at Omashu.

It begins with a disguise, with Aang as a grandfather and Ka as the reluctant grandmother ("It's your white hair," Sokka explains. "It'll help."). It continues with a dangerous ride down a mail shoot, resulting in them nearly dying.

Eventually, they are arrested, and it ends with a crazy king.

The king, King Bumi, immediately discovers their identities as the Avatar and the Minder, but his attention is completely focused on Aang only, as if she barely exists. It irritates her, and when Aang is told he will face tasks the next day without her, she only just manages to contain her annoyance.

They are led to a room with only three beds, and Ka shares one with Aang. She learns he moves a lot in his sleep.

She, Katara, and Sokka are taken away and given rings that grow steadily over their bodies. The Avatar must face tasks in order to free them.

(But not the Minder.)

When the king attacks Aang, forcing him to fight, Ka is forced to do nothing but watch. She wishes she was by his side, fighting alongside him, protecting him, doing what a Minder was meant to do.

Instead she is trapped inside purple rock that hides most of her view. How humiliating. If he could see her now, her father would be laughing at her.

Later, of course, they learn that King Bumi's reasoning for targeting Aang only was because he knew him one hundred years ago.

("Aang, Ka," the king says, finally taking notice of her, "you two have a difficult task ahead. The world has changed in the hundred years that you've been gone. It's the duty of the Avatar and the Minder to restore balance to the world by defeating Fire Lord Ozai." He looks between them, and Ka resists the urge to glare. "You have much to learn. You must master the four elements and confront the Fire Lord, and when you do," his eyes sparkle with glee, "I hope you will think like a mad genius."

Ka has many words to say, but she refrains, because Aang looks the most happiest he's been since the Southern Air Temple.)

"You look angry, Ka," Sokka notes when they finally leave, away from the kingdom of Omashu.

Ka just looks away, and doesn't say a word. Her friends are used to her silence by now.

* * *

They stumble upon a young earthbender whom Katara takes a liking to. They then learn that the town has forbidden earthbending, and any benders are taken away.

Ka finds it sickening.

When the young earthbender is captured, she is more than happy to aid Katara in her plan to rescue him. It is too dangerous for her to go alongside her, but she watches from the safety of Appa's saddle, only intervening when Katara gets the bright idea to free the rest of the benders.

She and Aang send coal up onto the deck, and Katara delivers a great speech. When nothing happens, the young earthbender from before begins an attack that soon spreads across the entire rig. Ka eventually ends up freezing a few people to the metal ship, and sending a few soldiers overboard when they try to grab at her.

In the end, the Fire Nation is thrown off, and the earthbenders take over the rig. They move to the barges, setting a course for their home, finally.

Quite a few benders come up to Ka personally and thank her, and she only bows and smiles at them. She is not used to such expression.

The only thing that ruins her mood is Katara's sudden shout.

"My mother's necklace! It's gone!"

* * *

 **well. yeah.**

 **hope that was okay. i'm having a lot of fun with the story of the minder.**

 **i apologize for being only vague and less descriptive with a few episodes. but this is how i am writing ka's story, and her perspective, and her development, so just bear with it for now. as we get closer to the end of season one, the chapters will be longer, most likely.**

 **next up: winter solstice. that'll be something interesting, hopefully.**

 **until next time.**

 **(review, please!)**


	4. season one: episodes 7-8

**is a 100%, completely functional website, of course.**

 **zero flaws.**

* * *

Ka's mind cannot leave Omashu.

Has the Minder truly become so insignificant in so many parts of the world? For a moment, she wonders if Aang would be better off without her, but when Aang shoots her a concerned look from his place in Appa's saddle, she realizes she is feeling so much it is projecting onto him. Ka just glances back at him and puts on an emotionless expression—one she is so used to wearing, so used to reverting back to.

Lately, she has been trying her best to put on a smile, or maybe even frown in front of others occasionally. So far, Aang is the only one to see her true smile, albeit tiny.

(She wonders if, one day, she will ever be courageous enough to let go of her past, to let go of her father's ways, and express herself the way she sees others do. For now, her face remains stoic, while her mind races.)

"These clouds look so soft," Katara says absently, pulling Ka out of her thoughts, "don't they? Like you just jump down and land on a big, soft, cottony heap?"

Sokka snorts. "Maybe you should give it a try."

"You're hilarious," Katara deadpans in reply.

Aang suddenly shoots up out of his seat. "I'll try it!" He jumps out of Appa's saddle, and that is what finally makes Ka climb up out of her laying position and look over the edge. She hears him yelling excitedly, and watches as he vanishes into a cloud.

Suddenly, there is a thump on the other side of the saddle, and they turn around to see him sitting there, soaking wet, with a big smile on his face.

"Turns out clouds are made of water," he says, and then airbends himself dry.

Sokka just shakes his head at him, looking somewhat unimpressed. Ka finds herself spacing out once more, crawling back into the not-so-safety of her mind.

Once again, it is Katara's voice that brings her out of it.

"Hey, what's that?"

The four of them climb up to the front of Appa's saddle, and the sight that meets them is not pretty. A large forest greets them, a significantly large burnt patch of land contrasting strikingly with the green.

"It's like a scar," Sokka says, most likely to himself, and Ka's thoughts drift to the Fire Nation prince so hellbent on capturing them.

* * *

They land in the scorched patch of the forest. As soon as Ka hops off Appa and her feet make contact, her heart drops to her stomach.

She can feel so much pain, and so much death. Her breath feels caught in her throat, and she suddenly has the urge to cry.

(How devastated the Spirits must be.)

"Listen," Sokka suddenly says, and his voice is so loud in the quiet of the scattered ashes, "it's so quiet. There's no life anywhere."

Ka looks down at the ground, swallowing thickly. She walks over towards Aang, who is looking at a heavy pile of ashes, his eyes watery.

"Aang? Ka? Are you okay?" Katara asks, ever the kindest.

"Fire Nation!" Sokka screams angrily. "Those evil savages make me _sick!_ They have no respect for—"

"Shh!"

"What? I'm not allowed to be _angry?_ "

Aang suddenly slumps over, propping himself up with his arms. Ka follows him, and watches as he picks up a handful of ash, letting it seep through his fingers.

"Why would anyone do this?" he whispers. "How could I let this happen?"

 _You are not alone in this,_ Ka thinks, and when Aang gives her a startled look, she realizes with a start that he heard her. _How odd._

"You didn't let this happen," Katara reassures softly. "It has nothing to do with you."

"Yes, it does," Aang sighs. "It's the Avatar's and the Minder's job to protect nature. But I don't know how to do my job."

"There is no one right way," Ka tries, but Aang just shakes his head despondently.

"That's why we're going to the North Pole," Katara tries, and Ka can hear the smile in her voice, "to find you a teacher."

"A waterbending teacher," Ka corrects.

"There's no one who can teach us how to be the Avatar and the Minder," Aang says, and Ka feels compelled to correct him, but he continues, "Monk Gyatso said that Avatar Roku would help me."

"The Avatar before you?" Sokka asks. "He died over one hundred years ago; how are you supposed to talk to him?"

Momo crawls into Aang's lap.

"I don't know," Aang finally says.

After a few moments, the siblings go off to their own devices, leaving Aang and Ka sitting side by side. Ka puts her hand on her Avatar's back, and that action seems to soothe him, even if only slightly.

"As I grew up in the Spirit World," she says, quietly, "and claimed my destiny as your Minder, Avatar Roku and Minder Divya were the two who taught me everything I know."

Aang looks at her, and stares in awe for a few moments, but it is short-lived. "That was in the Spirit World, " he admonishes, stroking Momo's fur. "I don't think we could talk to either of them here."

Ka thinks for a moment. "We are reincarnations of past Avatars and Minders," _you are at least,_ "so surely, there must be a way to contact them."

Aang looks down at his lap and frowns. "I guess we'll have to figure that out."

"Your burden as Avatar is the same as my burden as Minder," she continues. "We are one and the same. You are not alone."

"I know that's supposed to be reassuring," Aang says, voice flat, "and hearing you talk more and more is nice," he gives the smallest of smiles, "but that just sounds creepy."

Ka rolls her eyes. She looks down at the ruined land, and frowns deeply.

"All life is sacred," Aang says.

"All life is sacred," Ka repeats, and gently runs her fingers over the ashes of a forest once full of life.

* * *

She does not know how much time passes as she sits there with Aang, a hand on his back, but eventually, Katara comes back and stands behind them.

"Hey, you two!" she says. "Ready to be cheered up?"

"No," Aang replies, and before Ka can say anything, there's an acorn hitting her in the back of the head. "Ow!" Aang cries out, rubbing his head where an acorn hit his own. "How is that cheering me up?"

Sokka chuckles, sitting cross-legged a few feet away. "Cheered me up." In frustration, Katara throws one at him as well. "Ow. Yeah, I probably deserved that."

Katara kneels in front of them, holding out two acorns in each of her hands. "These acorns are everywhere," she says. "That means the forest will grow back! Every one of these will be a tall oak tree someday, and all the birds and animals that lived here will come back." She places an acorn in each of their hands, then rolls their palms closed over it.

Ka opens her palm and stares at the small acorn, before poking a finger in the ashy ground and setting the acorn in.

"Thanks, Katara," Ka hears Aang say, but she is too preoccupied with the sight of an old man walking towards them.

"Hey, who are you?" Sokka asks.

"When I saw the flying bison, I thought it was impossible!" the old man says in reply, even if it wasn't much of a reply at all. He walks over to Aang and Ka, staring them down thoughtfully. "But, those markings... are you the Avatar,child?" He looks over at Ka, "And the Minder?"

Ka looks down at her black tattoos. She has wondered if she should invest in a longer-sleeved tunic, but if her Spirit World tattoos make her more prone to being known as the Minder, then so be it.

She looks at Aang, and they nod in unison.

"My village desperately needs your help!"

* * *

They are led to what the old man calls _Senlin Village._ The sun is setting, illuminating the partially-destroyed buildings in an orange light.

They walk to the center building, where a large amount of villagers are hiding.

"These young people," the old man announces, gesturing to them, "are the Avatar and his Minder!"

"So, the rumors of your return are true!" comes another man, walking towards them excitedly. "It is the greatest honor of a lifetime to be in your presence."

"Nice to meet you too!" Aang says, as Ka bows. "So... is there something we can help you with?"

The other man suddenly frowns. "I'm not sure..."

"Our village is in crisis, they are our only hope!" the old man cries, and turns to Aang and Ka. "For the last few days at sunset, a spirit monster comes and attacks our village. He is Hei Bai, the black and white spirit."

Ka blinks in recognition. She remembers once meeting the spirit Hei Bai as a young child, but she had never imagined him to be dangerous.

"Why is it attacking you?" Sokka asks.

"We do not know," the other man replies, "but each of the last three nights, he has abducted one of our own. We are especially fearful because the winter solstice draws near."

"What happens then?"

"As the solstice approaches, the natural world and the Spirit World grow closer and closer until the line between them is blurred completely," the old man explains.

"Hei Bai is already causing devastation and destruction," the other man continues. "Once the solstice is here, there's no telling what will happen."

"So, what do you want us to do, exactly?" Aang asks, beating Ka to the punch.

"Who better to resolve a crisis between our world and the Spirit World than the Avatar and the Minder themselves?" the old man says. "You two are the great bridge between man and spirits."

Ka wonders which one she counts as. She meets Aang's gaze when he looks at her uncertainly.

"Right... that's us."

"Hey, great bridge people," Katara says quietly, "could I talk to you over here for a second?" She leads the two of them near a window. "You guys seem a little unsure about this."

"Yeah, that might be because I don't know anything at all about the Spirit World," Aang says. "It's not like there's someone to teach me this stuff!"

They all look at Ka, and she raises her eyebrows.

"All I could possibly tell you about the Spirit World is that it is unpredictable," she says flatly, somewhat annoyed. "I did not have a broad access to the entire verse." In fact, she was quite sheltered, left to her own devices in her father's cave when she was not learning with Divya in the nearby swamp.

"So... can you help these people?" Katara asks.

"We have to try, don't we?" Aang says, locking gazes with Ka. "Maybe whatever we have to do will just... come to me." Momo lands on his shoulder, and he gives a sheepish smile.

"I think you can do it," Katara says reassuringly.

"Yeah," Sokka says similarly, then pauses. "We're all going to get eaten by a spirit monster."

* * *

Aang and Ka walk out of the building, turning when the door behind them quickly shuts.

"No spirit I know of attacks without reasoning," Ka says thoughtfully as they walk towards the village entrance. "There must be something..."

Aang tilts his head and looks up at the setting sun. "Hello, Spirit" he tries. "Can you hear me? This is the Avatar speaking. Uh, my Minder and I are here to try and help stuff."

Ka taps his shoulder. "He is most likely still in the Spirit World," she says flatly.

Aang looks at her with a small frown and then back at the entrance. The sun finally sets and bathes the village in night.

"The sun has set," Aang announces. "Where are you, Hei Bai?"

Ka waits, but nothing comes. She sighs softly.

Aang scratches the back of his neck. "Well... spirit... uh... I hereby ask you to please leave this village in peace!" He spins his staff and sticks it down in the ground firmly, giving a sharp look to the entrance, as if it would do anything. When there is no response, Aang blinks. "Okay... well... I guess that's settled then."

He turns to walk away, and Ka reluctantly follows him.

"I am... not so sure it's that easy," she says.

"Well, nothing's happening," Aang replies.

Suddenly, they feel a presence behind them. Turning, a spirit different to what Ka remembers Hei Bai to be is towering over them intimidatingly.

"You must be the Hei Bai spirit!" Aang says, far too happily. "My name is—"

Suddenly, Hei Bai's mouth opens and he releases a terrifying burst of energy, knocking them both off their feet. He scurries off, smashing any nearby buildings he sees with an anger Ka can only recognize as revenge.

"My name's Aang!" he tries again, jumping to his feet and airbending Ka to her own. "I'm the Avatar and this is my Minder! We would like to help!" The spirit does not acknowledge them, and destroys a tower with pure energy. "Hey, wait up!"

Ka runs after Aang when he only tries to get closer to Hei Bai. She tries to tell him that chasing after a rampant, angry spirit may not be the best idea, but her words fall on deaf ears, and she wonders if she even said them out loud in the first place.

When Hei Bai smashes a smaller building, what looks like a house, Aang comes to stop behind him and sighs in exhaustion.

"Please, would you _stop_ destroying things and _listen?_ " Aang pleads. "We're trying to do our job as spirit bridge!" The spirit still does not pay any attention to either of them. "Excuse me, would you _please_ turn around?" Aang suddenly stomps his foot and clenches his fists. "I command you to turn around _now!_ "

There's a beat of silence, and then Aang is sent flying into a roof of another building. Ka gasps, barely managing to duck when the spirit lunges for her as well. She runs to Aang's aid, catching him in her arms when he dazedly jumps off the roof.

"Hei Bai, over here!" she hears someone shout, and whirls around to see Sokka throw his boomerang at the spirit. It does nothing.

"Go back," Ka says quickly.

"We'll fight him together," Sokka says determinedly, clenching his fist.

"I don't want to fight him unless I—" Aang's words get cut off by Sokka's scream when the spirit snatches him up, before fleeing.

Aang grabs his staff and throws it into the air, and Ka assumes her usual position of grabbing on top of it when he takes off after the spirit.

Hei Bai runs deep into the forest, holding Sokka in one of his hands.

"Aang! Ka!" Sokka shouts when he sees them pursuing. "Over here! Help!"

"Hang on, Sokka!" Aang calls back, and moves to get close enough for Ka to reach out. Her arm strains with the effort, her body very nearly slipping off the top of the glider.

Just as her fingers brush his, the spirit, and Sokka, fade away. Aang and Ka stare at the space where he once was, and notice too late the statue they ram into.

* * *

Ka awakens with a start, sitting up quickly and gasping. Her body feels different, but familiar, and she hears Aang's shout.

"I failed," he whispers, and Ka bites her bottom lip as she makes her way back to her feet, and follows Aang as he despondently walks back towards the village.

When they get there, Katara is sitting at the entrance, her body wrapped in a blanket. The old man is kneeling in front of her, a hand on her shoulder.

"Katara?" Aang calls. "Katara, we lost him."

Except nobody replies.

"The sun is rising," the old man says. "Perhaps they will return soon."

"What?" Aang questions, and as the sun illuminates his body, Ka's eyes widen when she takes in his appearance. "No, I'm right here!" He takes a step forward and waves his hand in the old man's face, and then sees his hand.

"We are in the Spirit World," Ka whispers, looking down at her own blue arms. Her tattoos are gone.

Aang takes a seat next to Katara when the old man walks away, and Ka follows him, folding her hands in her lap.

"We'll figure this out, Katara," Aang promises. "Like they said, we're the bridge between the worlds, right?" He looks at Ka, who only stares back at him. "All we have to do is... figure out what we have to do. But once we do that, no problem!"

A growl sounds behind them, and they turn to see Appa walking up.

"Appa!" Aang shouts, completely forgetting their predicament. "Hey buddy, I'm right here!" He does not answer him, as expected, and exhales on Katara, waking her up. "I guess you can't see me either..."

"It's okay, Appa," Katara says, patting his fur, "don't worry. I'm sure they're on their way back. I bet they even found you a bunch of moon peaches, for a treat!" They get up and walk back inside the village, leaving Aang and Ka alone at the entrance.

They look at each other and share a frown. They seem to be doing that a lot more often.

"What are we supposed to do?" Aang groans, putting his hands on his face and letting them drag. "Avatar Roku, how can I talk to you?" He closes his eyes and lowers his head, and Ka thinks of Divya, and how to reach deep inside herself to talk to her. Suddenly, there is a sound, and Aang looks up hopefully at the sky. "Sokka?"

There is nothing there but a dragon. Ka does a double-take.

"That's _definitely_ not Sokka," Aang says, quickly opening his glider and jumping on it. He hovers for a few moments before crashing to the ground.

"You cannot bend in the Spirit World," Ka explains when she sees his confused look.

Aang gives her a startled expression, and flinches when the dragon lands in front of them. There is a pause, and Aang holds his arms over his chest protectively. "Uh... you don't know where Sokka is, do you?"

The dragon does not give a verbal reply, which is to be expected, but it does lean its head forward and uses the tendrils on its nose to press against their foreheads. Ka sees an image, a vision, of Avatar Roku riding on the back of the same dragon. Divya is behind him, one of her arms around Roku's shoulders.

"You're Avatar Roku's animal guide!" Aang shouts in realization when the tendrils curl back towards the dragon. "Like Appa is to me! We need to save our friend and we don't know how."

"Is there a way to speak to Avatar Roku and Minder Divya?" Ka asks, her voice so professional that Aang gives her a strange look.

The dragon curls around the two of them, flatting itself against the ground, and Ka takes that as means to climb onto it. Aang climbs in front of her.

"Take us to Roku and Divya!" Aang shouts, and when the dragon flies away, Ka wraps her arms around Aang's waist.

* * *

While they fly over what appears to be a great distance, the time it takes them is very short. The dragon flies towards a temple on a fiery island, darting straight through the roof and into a strange-looking room.

Aang and Ka climb off, taking in the appearance of the room. There is a statue of Avatar Roku in front of a celestial calendar, and beside the statue is a golden plate similar to the one the Roku statue sits on, but it is empty.

Ka frowns.

"I don't understand," Aang says, "this is just a statue of Roku."

The dragon presses its tendrils to their foreheads again. This time, the vision is much different, that of a comet hurling through the sky.

"Is that what Roku wants to talk to us about? A comet?" Aang guesses, and looks back at the statue with curious eyes. "When can we talk to him?"

When the dragon lowers its head, a light beam appears, and lands just slightly beside Avatar Roku's statue. It presses its tendrils to their forehead once more, and the vision is much longer, more elaborate—they see the sun rising and setting over the ocean, the temple in view. The light closes in on the statue with each rise and fall.

"A calendar," Ka says.

"The light will reach Roku on the solstice!" Aang exclaims. "So that's when we'll be able to speak to Roku?"

The dragon breathes out roughly, and Aang seems to take it as a _yes._

"But we can't wait that long! We need to save Sokka _now!_ "

The dragon lowers itself onto the ground again, and the pair climb onto it, gasping when it takes off much more quickly than before.

* * *

They arrive back at the statue they woke up at, and both of their bodies are sitting in a meditating position at the base of it. When the dragon does not slow down, Aang screams and Ka braces for impact.

The dragon disappears into the statue, and the next time Ka opens her eyes, she is back in her own body. She looks down to make sure, and traces her fingers along her tattoos.

Aang stands, picking up his glider, and looks up at the statue.

Ka studies it for a moment, and then blinks. "Hei Bai," she recalls, a vague memory of herself as a child petting the head of a large panda.

Aang nods once, and they take off on his glider.

Back at the village, the sun is setting once more, and they land at the entrance. Katara runs towards them, embracing the two of them the best she can.

"You're back!" she shouts, and then pulls away. "Where's Sokka?"

Aang and Ka look at each other and then back at Katara.

"We're not sure..." Aang says apologetically.

Katara goes back to the building in the center of the village when the night falls, and Aang and Ka wait at the entrance for any appearance. When there is no sign of any movement, they look at each other and start to walk back towards the building where the rest of the villagers are gathered.

Suddenly, just as they take a few steps forward, Hei Bai appears out of nowhere and holds up one of his arms. Aang pulls Ka closer to him and creates a shield made out of air to deflect his attack.

"What are you doing!?" Ka hears Katara shout. "Run!"

The spirit moves to attack them again, but Ka jumps before him and presses her palm against his forehead. The image of a panda appears behind the terrifying form the spirit now takes, and Hei Bai calms down for a moment as Ka lands in front of it.

"You're the spirit of this forest!" Aang exclaims. "Now I understand. You're upset and angry because your home was burned down. When we saw the forest had burned," he looks at Ka, "we were sad and upset, but our friend gave us hope that the forest would grow back."

Ka opens her palm and holds out an acorn. "This is not who you are," she murmurs softly, leaving it at the spirit's feet.

The spirit pauses before picking it up, slowly reverting back into the panda Ka recognizes. She watches it walk away, and once it passes through the entrance, branches sprout from the ground and people emerge from them.

Including Sokka.

"Sokka!" Katara shouts, running towards him and throwing her arms around him.

"What happened?" Sokka asks.

"You were trapped in the Spirit World for twenty-four hours!" she exclaims, eyes wide. "How are you feeling?"

Sokka throws his hands between his legs and waddles away. "Like I seriously need to use the bathroom." Katara watches him leave and rolls her eyes.

"Thank you, Avatar and Minder," the leader of the village says gratefully, stepping towards them with his hands clasped together. "If only there were a way to repay you for what you've done."

"You could give us some supplies," Sokka says immediately, "and some money."

"Sokka!"

"What! We need stuff!"

The leader only smiles and bows. "It would be an honor to help you prepare for your journey." As they walk away, Katara walks closer to Aang and Ka.

"I'm so proud of you two," she says earnestly. "You figured out what to do, all on your own."

Aang and Ka share a look. "Actually," Aang starts.

"We did have some help," Ka continues.

"And there's something else," Aang finishes.

"What is it?" Sokka asks.

"We need to talk to our past lives and we think we found a way to contact their spirits," Aang replies, fumbling with his hands.

"That's great!" Katara says.

"Creepy, but great," Sokka agrees, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

"There's a temple on a crescent-shaped island and if we go there on the solstice," Aang explains, "we'll be able to speak with them."

"But the solstice is tomorrow!"

"Yeah," Aang says, biting his lip, "and there's one more problem."

"The island is in the Fire Nation," Ka says, crossing her arms.

Sokka and Katara give them looks of horror. People from the village walk over to them to give them the supplies they requested, and as the siblings are distracted, Aang and Ka walk over to Appa and throw their stuff into his saddle.

Aang yanks on his reins, trying to get him to budge, but Appa remains firmly on the ground.

"Look, I'm sorry," Aang sighs, patting his bison, "but Katara and Sokka aren't coming to the Fire Nation with us." He looks away. "If they got hurt, I'd never forgive myself." Then he stomps his foot and yanks on the reins again, "So get your big butt off the ground and let's go!"

"I think his big butt is trying to tell you something," Sokka says.

"Please don't go," Katara says desperately, her eyes sad. "The world can't afford to lose you to the Fire Nation." She holds her hands in front of her. "Neither can I."

Aang looks away, and Ka thinks of the soaring comet.

"But we have to talk to Avatar Roku and Minder Divya to find out what our vision means!" Aang protests. "We need to get to the Fire Temple before the sun sets on the solstice. That's today!"

He airbends himself onto Appa's head, pulling up the reins, and reaches over to pull Ka up to sit beside him. Appa finally stands, turning around, but Katara and Sokka jump in front of him before he can move any more.

"We're not letting you two go into the Fire Nation," Katara says determinedly.

Aang raises an eyebrow.

"At least, not without your friends," Sokka says, and points to himself with his thumb. "We got your back."

"It's a long journey to the Crescent Island," the leader of the village says, bowing. "You'll have to fly fast to have any chance of making it before sundown. Good luck."

Aang, as Katara and Sokka climb into the saddle, says, "Thank you for your—"

" _Go!_ "

* * *

The sun has finally rose, and the group watches the ocean as if something were to pop out of it any moment.

Ka turns around, and to her surprise, something quite literally does. She taps Katara's shoulder, and points over to the fire prince's ship that currently chases them.

"Aang. We've got trouble," Katara calls.

"Yeah! And it's gaining fast!" Sokka yells.

Ka narrows her eyes at the ship, squinting when she sees something steaming from the deck. It suddenly ignites in fire, and launches in their direction.

"Fireball!" Katara shouts.

"I'm on it!" Aang says, and yanks the reins to move out of the way of the fireball. It falls into the ocean somewhere, but the stench it makes as it passes by them is so revolting Ka covers her nose.

"We have to get out of Zuko's range, before he shoots another hot stinker at us!" Katara says, making a disgusted face.

"Can't you make Appa go _any_ faster?" Sokka asks.

"Yeah," Aang replies uncertainly, "but there's just one little problem."

Ka looks where Aang is facing, and blinks.

"A blockade," she says.

"If we fly north, we can go around the Fire Nation ships and avoid the blockade!" Aang says. "It's the _only_ way."

"There's no time!" Katara protests.

"This is exactly why I didn't want you to come! It's too dangerous!" Aang shouts over the quick rush of wind. Ka feels the need to pin her hair down from how wildly it waves around her.

"And that's exactly why we're here," Katara retaliates.

"Let's run this blockade!" Sokka grins.

Aang nods, and urges Appa faster. "Yip-yip!"

When the ships on the blockade finally notice them coming, their decks seemingly ignite in flames, and fireballs similar to the one Prince Zuko fired at them come racing towards them. Aang, Sokka, and Katara scream in fear, with the former quickly yanking his bison's reins left and right in order to avoid each fireball. One of them explodes mid-air, and Ka lifts her arms to shield her face from the debris. They end up flying right through it, and when they emerge the debris cause embers to spark on Appa's fur. He growls, and Ka quickly leans down to pat out the one closest to her.

"Appa, are you okay?" Aang asks. The bison only roars in reply, and they soar into the clouds.

In the clouds, the view is much worse, and fireballs suddenly burst in all directions. Smoke covers their vision, and when Appa turns, the turn is so rough that Sokka is thrown from the saddle and falls down towards the ocean.

"Sokka!" Aang screams, and whips the reins downwards.

They race towards him, Sokka screaming and flailing his arms about. Katara and Ka each grab one of his hands, pulling him back in just in time. Appa's feet skim the surface when Aang urges him upwards once more.

Suddenly, there is only one fireball launching through the air, and it is aimed directly at them. Aang's eyes snap open, and he runs off Appa's head, airbending himself even further. He shouts as he kicks across the air, sending a powerful blast towards the fireball. It explodes, scattering around him, and Ka grabs his shirt to pull him back when he starts to fall.

They make it past the blockade, eventually.

"We made it!" Aang shouts, throwing his arm in the air excitedly.

"We got into the Fire Nation," Sokka grimaces. "Great."

As the others watch for any other threats, Ka climbs to the very back of the saddle and leans forward, trying to watch for the prince's ship. She only sees it fade from view, a heavy cloud of smoke following it in its wake.

* * *

When they make it to the island, the sun is low in the sky. There are no guards posted at the front. When they notice it is almost sundown, they run inside to find it mostly abandoned.

That is, until, a group of Fire Sages appear behind them, standing almost threateningly.

"We are the Fire Sages," the apparent leader says. "Guardians of the temple of the Avatar."

"Great! I am the Avatar!" Aang says happily, and points to Ka, "And she is—"

"We know," the sage interrupts, and inhales deeply before punching a blast of fire towards them.

Aang deflects it with airbending, his eyes widening in shock. "I'll hold them off," he calls towards the others. "Run!"

Ka runs with the siblings, and eventually, Aang skids in front of them and waves them in his direction.

"Follow me!" he says.

"Do you know where you're going?" Sokka asks, just as Aang turns a corner and disappear.

"Nope!" he calls, and there is a moment of silence. They all stop when Aang comes racing back, his face twisted in fear. "Wrong way!" He disappears past them, and when they see a Fire Sage approaching them, they run after him.

"Come back!" the Fire Sage shouts in such a different tone than the sage before that it makes Ka slow down and look back at him.

They round a corner and run down the hallway, which only turns out to be a dead-end. They come to a halt, hesitating before turning around. The Fire Sage that chased them quickly throws his hands up in what looks like surrender.

"I don't want to fight you!" he claims. "I am a friend."

"Firebenders aren't our friends!" Sokka shouts.

Aang and Ka move in the front, assuming fighting positions just in case.

The Fire Sage steps forward and falls to his knees, pressing his palms and forehead to the floor in a bow of deep respect. "I know why you're here, Avatar and Minder," he says.

"You do?" Aang and Ka ask in unison, which kind of startles them.

"Yes," the sage says, rising from the floor. "You wish to speak to Avatar Roku and Minder Divya. I can take you to them."

"How?"

The Fire Sage moves a lamp on the wall, revealing a hole behind it. He presses his palm against it, putting a hand on his shoulder and firebends into it. The wall slides open, and Ka peeks inside to see a fiery, lava-infested pathway.

"This way," the sage urges.

"Find them," echoes the voice of the leader Fire Sage.

"Time is running out!" the sage exclaims. "Quickly!"

The group share glances at one another, before stepping inside the passage and walking down the steps. The Sage walks behind them, closing the secret door before the other Sages could take notice.

The Sage introduces himself as Shyu, and leads them through the hot cavern.

"Avatar Roku once called this temple his home," he explains, and Ka suddenly feels as if she is being given a tour. "He and Minder Divya formed these secret passages out of the magma."

Ka lifts her head.

"Did you know Avatar Roku?" Aang asks curiously.

"No," Shyu replies, "but my grandfather knew him. Many generations of Fire Sages guarded this Fire Temple long before me. We all have a strong spiritual connection to this place."

"Is that how you knew we were coming?"

"A few weeks ago, an amazing thing occurred. The statue of Avatar Roku—its eyes began to glow!" Shyu says, opening his palms in front of him as if to emphasize.

"That's when we were at the Air Temple," Katara realizes. "Avatar Roku's eyes were glowing there, too!"

"At that moment, we knew you had returned to the world," Shyu states firmly.

"If this is the Avatar's temple, why did the sages attack me?" Aang asks, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Things have changed," Shyu sighs. "In the past, the sages were loyal only to the Avatar and the Minder. When Roku and Divya died, the sages eagerly awaited for the next Avatar and Minder to return." He pauses. "But they never came."

Aang looks down, stopping in place. "They were waiting for us."

"Hey, don't feel bad," Sokka says, his tone one that Ka does not like. "You're only a hundred years late!" Aang scowls in reply.

Ka cannot bring herself to say anything. Aang ran away, was frozen in ice, and his original Minder was left alone for the hundred years he was gone, until she eventually passed, and her duty as Minder was given (i.e. _accidentally_ ) to Ka.

(But still, the Minder was gone too, so she feels guilty all the same.)

"They lost hope the Avatar and the Minder would ever return," Shyu continues. "When Fire Lord Sozin began the War, my grandfather and the other sages were forced to follow him. Since the last Minder was Air Nation, and the views of the Minder have certainly changed significantly," he looks directly at Ka with a sad look, "they had the statue of Divya removed. The temple looks strangely empty without the Avatar's Minder by his side." He pauses, and shakes his head. "I never wanted to serve the Fire Lord. When I learned you were coming, I knew I would have to betray the other sages."

Aang smiles. "Thank you for helping us," he says, and Ka nods in agreement.

Eventually, they make it up the steps. Shyu pushes aside a tile and climbs into the sanctuary, pulling the others up into it. It is a large room, and columns decorated with dragons line down the entrance to what Ka assumes to be the celestial calendar room. The immense door that leads to it is closed, and Ka tilts her head when she sees five open-mouthed dragons lined across it.

"No!" Shyu gasps.

"Shyu, what's wrong?" Aang asks.

"The sanctuary doors," Shyu says, pointing towards them, "they're closed."

Aang runs up and starts tugging at the handles. Ka does the same, but she can only wonder why there are even handles in the first place, when it seems that you must bend fire into the dragons in order to open it.

"Can't you just open them with firebending?" Katara asks. "Like you opened that other door?"

"No," Shyu replies, shaking his head. "Only a fully realized Avatar or Minder are powerful to open this door alone. Otherwise, the sages must open this door together with five simultaneous fire blasts."

Sokka looks in deep thought, a hand over his chin as he hums. "Five fire blasts, huh?" he muses, and snaps his fingers with a grin. "I think I can help you out!"

He takes the lamp off the wall and takes out the oil, pouring it into a bag he suddenly procured out of nowhere.

"This is a little trick I picked up from my father," he explains. "I seal the lamp oil inside an animal skin casing, Shyu lights the oil-soaked twine, and" he picks up the bag and proudly presents it to the others, "ta-da! Fake firebending!"

"You've really outdone yourself this time, Sokka," Katara scoffs, putting her hands on her hips.

Ka nods, quite impressed.

"This might actually work," Shyu agrees.

Sokka puts each of the bags he fills into the dragons' mouths, and runs off to hide behind Katara.

"The sages will hear the explosion, so as soon as they go off, you rush in!" Shyu says.

"It's almost sunset," Katara says, looking over at Aang. "Are you ready?"

"Definitely," Aang replies.

"Yes," Ka says.

Shyu points his finger and sends a small line of fire across the twine, lighting all five bags at once. He runs to take cover, and the explosion is so loud and intense that the smoke thickens and blocks their vision. Aang and Ka run forward, but the door is not open. Aang pulls at the handles once more, and kicks at them in frustration.

"They're still locked!"

Shyu sighs. "It didn't work."

Everyone moves to stand in front of the doors, staring. Eventually, Aang's frustration gets the better of him, and he swipes his arms down angrily, airbending slices beating against the heavy metal of the door.

"Aang! Stop!" Katara shouts, grabbing his arm. "There's nothing else we can do."

"I'm sorry I put you through all this for nothing," Aang says sadly, hanging his head and closing his eyes.

Sokka runs his finger against the wall, then pulls it back to observe the black soot left behind on his skin. "I don't get it," he says. "That firebending looked as strong as any firebending I've ever seen."

They are all silent for a moment, then Katara gasps.

"Sokka, you're a genius!"

"Wait, how is Sokka a genius?" Aang asks, eyes filled with confusion. He and Ka look at each other with similar expressions. "His plan didn't even work."

"Come on, Aang," Sokka says, smirking. "Let her dream."

"You're right," Katara says. "Sokka's plan _didn't_ work. But it _looks_ like it did."

"Did the definition of genius change over the last hundred years?" Aang asks dubiously.

"You plan to trick them," Ka suddenly realizes, whirling her head to look at Katara. Aang's eyes widen, and Katara nods at her excitedly.

"Let's do it," Katara says, smiling.

* * *

Shyu leads the other Fire Sages towards the scorched door.

"Come quickly! The Avatar and his Minder have entered the sanctuary!"

"How did they get in?" the Fire Sage leader asks in shock.

"I don't know," Shyu replies, and he is a good actor, Ka decides, "but look at the scorch marks! And down there!"

The shadow they believe to be one of them is actually Momo, crawling around. Ka suddenly has the urge to giggle at how gullible they are, and puts a hand over her mouth in sudden shock.

"They're inside!" the sage shouts. "Open the doors, immediately! Before they contact Avatar Roku!"

As the fire sages blast fire into the dragons' mouths, Aang and Ka scoot out from a column, ready to jump into action at any moment. When the door opens, the sages gasp at the sight of Momo.

"It's the Avatar's lemur," the sage says. "He must have crawled through the pipes. We've been tricked!"

Before Ka can jump forward, a hand pulls her hair back, and she stumbles into something hard. A warm hand curls around her wrists painfully, and she turns her head to see Prince Zuko standing there triumphantly. His other hand is holding onto Aang.

"Not so quick now, huh?" he whispers, and Ka kicks at his leg. He only shoves her forward, making her grunt in pain.

"Aang! Ka! Now's your chance!" she hears Katara shout. Ka gives Aang a worried look, and Prince Zuko pushes the two of them forward, pinning both of them nearby unmovable.

"The Avatar and his Minder are coming with me!" he announces, making their friends gape in shock. "Close the doors! Quickly!" They end up being captured by the sages, and Ka watches as they are chained to the columns.

They are shoved down the steps, Ka struggling to break free from the painful grip the prince has her in. She supposes it is revenge from Kyoshi, and she grits her teeth. Aang suddenly spins in the air, and with the prince distracted, Ka pulls her wrists from his grip and whirls around. She knees him in the stomach, and when he doubles over, she turns and kicks him down the steps.

Aang starts running towards Katara and Sokka, but when they urge him towards the closing towards, Aang picks up Ka and jumps over the sages' heads and sails through the door just as it closes. Ka has to hold onto her hair just to keep it from getting caught.

When they are inside, Aang puts down Ka, and they step closer to the statue.

"The light hits the statue and we talk to Roku and Divya," Aang says. "So why isn't anything happening?"

A moment passes.

"Why isn't anything happening?" Aang cries, exasperated. "I don't know what I'm doing! All I know is airbending! Please, Avatar Roku, talk to me!"

"Give it time," Ka urges, putting a hand on his shoulder.

The beam of light from the sun suddenly engulfs the entire statue, and the eyes of it glow bright white. Smoke fills the room and smothers them, and when it finally dissipates, they are on a misty mountaintop.

Avatar Roku and Minder Divya stand before them.

" _It's good to see you two,_ " Avatar Roku says, smiling.

" _What took you so long?_ " Minder Divya asks.

Aang and Ka both bow to the ones standing before them.

" _We have something very important to tell you,_ " Roku says. " _That is why, when you were in the Spirit World, I sent my dragon to find you._ "

"Is it about that vision?" Aang asks. "The one of the comet?"

" _Yes,_ " Divya answers, nodding once.

"What does it mean?" Ka finds the words leaving her mouth before she realizes it.

" _One hundred years ago,_ " Roku starts, " _Fire Lord Sozin used that comet to begin the War._ "

" _He and his firebending army harnessed its incredible power,_ " Divya says, " _and dealt a deadly first strike against the other nations._ "

"So the comet made them stronger?" Aang guesses.

" _Yes,_ " Roku replies, and his voice sounds sad. " _Stronger than you could even imagine._ "

"But that happened a hundred years ago," Aang says. "What does the comet have to do with the War now? "

" _Listen carefully,_ " Divya orders softly, and takes a deep breath. " _Sozin's Comet will return by the end of the summer, and Fire Lord Ozai will use its power to finish the War, once and for all._ "

" _If he succeeds, even the Avatar and the Minder will not be able to restore balance to the world,_ " Roku says. " _Aang, Ka, you must defeat the Fire Lord, before the comet arrives._ "

Aang's eyes widen, and Ka clenches her fists anxiously.

"But I haven't even started _learning_ waterbending, not to mention earth and fire!" Aang counters worriedly.

" _Mastering the elements takes years of discipline and practice,_ " Divya says.

" _But if the world is to survive,_ " Roku states, his voice deadly serious, " _you must do it by summer's end._ "

Aang and Ka look at each other in a mixture of shock and horror. Between them, _surely_ they could have enough power, but mastering _all_ the elements by the end of the summer seems incredibly impossible.

Ka resists the urge to look down at her feet and curl into herself. Divya would certainly scold her.

"What if we are not able to master all the elements in time?" Ka asks, trying not to let her panic show. She digs her nails into her palms. "What if we fail?"

" _I know you can do it,_ " Roku assures, and Ka suddenly feels as if she is back in the Spirit World, practicing forms with Roku in the swamp, " _for you have done it before._ "

Ka smiles softly, and Divya nods once at her.

" _The solstice is ending,_ " Divya says. " _We must go our separate ways, for now._ "

"But we won't be able to come back to the temple," Aang says, stepping forward. "What if we have questions? How will we talk to you?"

" _We are a part of you,_ " Roku says. " _When you need to speak with us again, you will find a way._ "

Roku and Divya shut their eyes, Aang and Ka following in unison. A vision appears—Fire Navy ships are surrounding all edges of the island. Firebenders are positioned in front of the door, arms stretched out, waiting.

 _A great danger awaits you at the temple,_ Divya's voice comes through their mind, _We can help you face the threat. But only if you are ready._

Aang and Ka open their glowing eyes, and their tattoos begin to glow.

" _I'm ready._ "

* * *

Katara struggles against the chains when she sees the door begin to glow again. Smoke comes out from underneath the door, and through the small slit in the middle. Suddenly, the door seemingly unlocks itself, slowly pushing open. A blinding white light makes her look away, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Ready..." she hears Zhao say, and her eyes widen in shock.

The light fades, and in the darkness there is only a single pair of glowing white eyes.

"No!" Katara shouts, "Aang! Ka!"

" _FIRE!_ " Zhao and his guards blast fire into the room, but instead of hitting its target, the fire swirls around the pair of eyes and form a wall.

Untouched, behind the flames, is what looks like Avatar Roku, but also not. The figure wears Fire Nation robes, but with Air Nation colors decorated across it. His usual white hair has thick brown streaks throughout it, and on his forehead comes an airbending tattoo.

"I can't believe it," Shyu whispers. "It's them. _Jiéhé._ "

Katara isn't exactly what he means by _them_ , but there isn't any time to think about it. The firebending figure before them draws the fire closer to themself, before thrusting their arms out and sending it out towards the room. It knocks Zhao and his guards to the ground, and melts the chains that pin the others to the walls. The blast destroys the walls of the temple, and the firebending figure turns their attention to the sages. They scramble to their feet, running out of the temple as fast as they can.

"Avatar Roku and Minder Divya are going to destroy the temple!" Shyu implores. "We _have_ to get out of here!"

" _Not_ without Aang and Ka!" Katara counters, and she bites her lip nervously as she watches the firebending figure destroy the floor they stand on.

They melt the floor, lift their hand, and a stream of lava erupts in maddened explosions. It bursts through the temple, tearing it apart from the inside. Katara hides behind a column, grabbing onto her brother, and hears the firebending figure exhale slowly.

All the smoke from the fire and lava draw in around the figure, and when it's gone it reveals a weary Aang and Ka.

The two drop to their knees, and they almost fall before Katara and Sokka catch them.

"We got your back," Sokka says, throwing Ka's arm over his shoulder.

"Thanks," Aang says, leaning into Katara's touch. _He feels oddly light,_ she thinks. "Where's Shyu?"

"I don't know," she replies honestly.

When they reach the exit, it is piling up with lava. They look down in horror, but a familiar growl makes them all look up. Appa and Momo are soaring towards them, and the group runs out of the temple and jumps onto him. They fly away, and Katara looks back at the destruction before looking at the weary Avatar and Minder in the saddle.

She wonders just exactly _who_ was bending the lava in the temple.

* * *

That night, as she thinks about it more, she realizes that both Aang and Ka emerged from the smoke that surrounded the firebending figure, almost like they were combined in one body.

"They were one entity!" Katara shouts, waking everyone else up.

Ka sits up and rubs at her eyes. They are so vividly violet they seem to glow. "Huh?" she murmurs.

"Avatar Roku and his Minder," Katara says, gesturing with her hands. "The figure. They were one! One entity! Like a fusion! _Jiéhé!_ "

Ka just blinks at her.

"Uh," Katara says, blushing in embarrassment, "we talk about this in the morning."

Ka stares at her blankly for a moment more, before laying back down and going back to sleep. Katara just wonders how she can always remain so stoic in all their adventures thus far.

She has not once seen Ka smile, and makes it her personal goal to make her do so.

* * *

 **quick katara pov at the end there.**

 **( _jiéhé_ = fusion/singularity) **

**so. steven-universe-style fusion? yeah. fancy, huh?**

 **hope you all enjoyed this. i know i enjoyed writing it.**

 **next is the waterbending scroll, jet, and the great divide (ugh). hope you'll stick around til' then.**


	5. season one: episodes 9-11

**i'm happy at least a few people are enjoying this. i am excited to write the scenes in the future that delve deeper into the past of the minder, as well as more into ka's perspective.**

 **i hope you all are at least a little excited about that, too.**

 **(also, a super interesting coincidence has been brought to my attention. _ka_ —in ancient egypt—is the term for the supposed spiritual part of an individual that survives after death. i just named her ka because it sounded vaguely like "koh". how odd.)**

* * *

Ka dreams of faces similar to her own and agonizing screams. She dreams of fire suffocating her and water filling her lungs to the point where she cannot breathe. She dreams of bright lights and orange eyes filled with hatred and betrayal.

She wakes with a gasp, and her body covered in sweat. She thinks of the fire, the water, the bright lights and the bright eyes.

Then she thinks of her own face, how it was so detached from her body, and puts her hands over her eyes in an attempt to shield them from the sun.

(She is not shaped like her father, nor does she has any of his abilities. Her worst fear, the one she dreads the most, is that her form, and her body, were made from a face once stolen.

And she is not sure if she _wants_ to know the truth, whether it be real or not.)

"Are you alright?" comes Katara's soft voice, and Ka swallows her anxiety to put on a calm, blank face, lest she make her friends worry for her.

(There are much more important things to worry about.)

Ka nods once, and then looks over the side of Appa's saddle to notice that they are coming closer to the ground. "Landing?" she questions, pointing down.

Katara smiles. "I'm going to teach Aang some of the waterbending I know," she says. "So he can get a head-start! If you want, I can show _you_ some stuff too!"

Ka blinks. "You would teach me?"

"Of course!" Katara replies, like the answer was obvious.

"Okay..." Ka says back, because truly, she is never sure what to say in the midst of such pure, radiant kindness. Katara's concern and care for others will always be such a mystery to her.

* * *

"Nice puddle," Sokka says once they land beside a large waterfall.

Appa flies over the river and flops into the water, leading to a huge tidal wave of water that knocks Momo off the rock he sits on. When Aang attempts to follow his lead, throwing his shirt off somewhere to the side, Katara grabs his arm and reminds him of the reason they, in fact, landed here.

"Oh right," Aang says, moving to grab his shirt. "Time to practice waterbending."

"Great," Sokka says sarcastically, "so, what am I supposed to do?"

"You could..." Aang pauses, tapping his chin in thought, and then moves to grab a nearby branch, brushing stray dirt off the bushel of leaves at the end, "clean the gunk out of Appa's toes."

Sokka crosses his arms. "So, while you guys are playing in the water, I'm supposed to be hard at work picking mud out of a giant bison's feet?"

"Mud and bugs!"

For a moment, Sokka doesn't say anything, but after that moment, he shrugs and takes the stick from Aang's hand, walking over to the swimming bison.

When Sokka gets to work, Katara leads the two to a spot by the shore, rolling up her sleeves and smiling at the two.

"Ka, how much do you know?" she asks curiously.

"I know many forms," Ka replies, and folds her hands in front of her, "but I have not put most of them to practice."

"Alright..." Katara murmurs thoughtfully, and flips her braid behind her back. "Let's try this one movie. It's pretty basic, but it still took me months to perfect. So don't get frustrated if you don't get it right away."

Aang nods excitedly, his smile bright and eyes somewhat focused (Ka suspects they are more focused on Katara herself rather than her moves).

Katara puts one foot in front of her and moves her hands back and forth, her torso moving with them. Small waves appear in the water, mimicking her movements. Ka blinks in awe—the fact that Katara taught herself waterbending with no outside knowledge is incredible, and she marvels at such raw talent.

"Just push and pull the water," Katara explains, "like this! The key is getting the wrist movement right."

Aang stares at her for another moment and copies her stance. "Like this?" he asks, moving his hands back and forth in the same way Katara does.

Ka does the same, and has to force down a smile when she sees small waves looking back at her.

"That's _almost_ right," Katara says, when Aang's attempts prove futile. "If you keep practicing, I'm sure eventually—"

"Hey, I'm bending it already!" Aang exclaims suddenly, interrupting Katara mid-sentence. The other two stare as he bends much larger waves than Katara's.

Ka decides to try again, and blinks when her waves are even _bigger_ than Aang's. She decides to blame her success on absorbing the spirit of a Water Nation-born Minder. Ka looks back at Katara, who looks surprised, and also a bit disappointed in herself.

"Wow, I can't believe you guys got that so quickly," Katara says, and turns away. "It took me two _months_ to learn that move."

"Well," Aang says, shrugging his shoulders, "you had to figure it out all on your own. We're lucky enough to have a great teacher."

Ka nods in agreement.

Katara smiles, "Thanks."

"So, what's next?"

Katara turns back to the water. "This is a more difficult move," she explains. "I call it _streaming the water._ " Katara lifts her hands and bends a stream of water from the river into her control. Moving it around her body, she bites her lip in concentration and looks back towards her temporary students. "It's harder than it looks, so don't be disappointed if—"

Aang, however, has no reason to be disappointed. He has long since bent the stream of water, and dramatically whirls it around his body and head, laughing and oblivious to Katara's annoyance. Ka frowns, gently weaving the stream of water around her arm and snapping it back out, before bending it around her body and back into the river.

"Nice work," Katara says, "though the over-the-head flare was unnecessary."

"Sorry," Aang says, and then pumps his fist in the air. "Well, don't stop now! Keep 'em comin'!"

Katara looks away unsurely, fumbling with her fingers. "Well, I kind of know this one other movie, but it's pretty hard," she says. " _I_ haven't even totally figured it out yet." She turns back to the water with a determined face. "The idea is to create a big, powerful wave." She lowers her body a little before bringing it up, throwing her hands in the air. They tremble with the effort, and the water just barely rises before Katara groans and lets her hands fall.

Before Ka can even lift a finger, Aang says, "So, like this?" When he raises his hands, he seemingly effortlessly creates a massive wave that towers very nearly threateningly over them.

"Aang!?" comes Sokka's cry when the wave throws him into the water.

Aang, continuously oblivious, smiles brightly. "Looks like I got the hang of that move!" he says happily. "What else do you got?"

"That's enough practicing for today," Katara says tightly, looking away before Aang can notice her angry expression.

"Yeah, I'll say!" Sokka cries, poking his head out of the water. "You just _practiced_ our supplies down the river!" He points where, sure enough, the bags they had packed on Appa are quickly disappearing from view.

"Uh... sorry," Aang says, wincing. "I'm sure we can find somewhere to replace all this stuff."

"My life was hard enough when you were _just_ an airbender..."

* * *

They find a nearby market beside a harbor, filled with odd-looking men and soldiers from all over. The armed men stare at them in different varieties of curiosity and anger. Ka finds herself staring back, her cold, emotionless expression making them quickly look away.

They don't have much money left, and even less when Aang buys a bison whistle with a copper piece, apparently having gotten it when nobody was looking. When it barely makes a sound, their friends reprimand him, and the money is handed over to Katara.

They continue to walk, closer to the harbor, glancing about at all the different markets and shops in store.

"Earth Nation!" comes a sudden declaration. "Fire Nation! Water Nation!" A man is shouting, in an attempt to be enticing, in front of a large, decorated boat. "So long as bargains are your _in_ clination, you're welcome here! Don't be shy, come on by!" When he sees the four walking up, he runs over to them quickly, and his eyes travel along Ka longer than she is comfortable with. "Oh! You there, I can see from your clothing that you're world-traveling types. Perhaps I can interest you in some exotic curios?"

They very nearly ignore him and walk on by, but Aang stops in his tracks and backpedals to him.

"Sure!" he says, then pauses. "What are curios?"

The man thinks for a moment, looking confused, but then shrugs. "I'm not entirely sure. But we've got 'em!" He throws his arm around Aang's shoulders, grinning and leading him into the ship.

Ka finds she has no other choice but to follow them, and clenches her fists as she reluctantly follows her Avatar into the odd ship.

In the ship is a shop filled with an assortment of knickknacks and other objects Ka isn't sure how to describe. Growing up in the Spirit World gives you a sort of ignorance to physical world, and Ka has no way to even imagine the reason some of these objects were made, or the reason for buying them.

"I've never seen such a fine specimen of lemur," comes a low voice, and a large man steps out of the shadows. "That beast would fetch me a hefty sum if you'd be... interested in bartering." There is some sort of animal on his shoulders, and it squawks at them as if in agreement.

Aang quickly grabs Momo and holds him close to his chest. "Momo's not for sale."

The large man looks over at Ka, and the smile he gives her makes her want to punch it right off him.

"How about the girl there?" he asks. "I've never seen someone with such... _unique_ features." Taking a step forward, the large man goes to stroke her hair, but Ka reaches up and snatches his wrist with a speed and ferocity that makes him raise his eyebrows.

"I am not for sale," she states firmly, and pushes him backwards.

Aang frowns at the large man and grabs onto her arm, leading her towards Katara, who is standing curiously near a shelf and thumbing through a number of different scrolls. She takes one out, and opens it to reveal a series of waterbending forms. Ka peeks over her shoulder, and blinks when she recognizes quite a few of them.

"Look at this, guys!" she says, her mood brightening instantly. "It's a waterbending scroll! Check out these _crazy_ moves."

"Where did you get a waterbending scroll?" Aang asks.

Just as Ka leans over to point to one of the illustrations, the large man suddenly slams his hand down on the scroll and rolls it up. "Let's just say I got it up North, at a most reasonable price." He grins. " _Free._ "

As he puts it back into the shelf, Sokka suddenly leans forward suspiciously. "Wait a minute..." he says, stroking his chin. "Sea-loving traders, with suspiciously-acquired merchandise... and pet reptile birds?" He whirls around to the man who had shouted at them from outside the ship, and very nearly spits in his face, "You guys are pirates!"

 _Pirates,_ Ka thinks, and a shudder runs down her spine. And they wanted to _buy_ her.

"We prefer to think of ourselves as _high-risk traders._ "

Katara jingles the two copper pieces in her hands thoughtfully, raising an eyebrow to the large man, who seems to be the apparent captain of the pirates.

"So, how much for the, uh, traded scroll?" she asks.

"I've already got a buyer," the captain replies quickly, "a nobleman in the Earth Kingdom." He leans forward, raising an eyebrow. "Unless... of course... you kids have two hundred gold pieces on you right now."

Aang turns to whisper to Katara, "I know how to deal with these guys, Katara. Pirates love to haggle." Katara hesitates before dropping the coins into his hand, and Aang confidently turns back to the captain. "Let's say to the price of... one copper piece!" he says, his voice turning odd, as if he were trying to impersonate the pirates.

The pirate captain laughs hysterically, but it stops quickly. "The price is two hundred gold pieces. I don't haggle on items this rare."

"Okay..." Aang says, and smirks as he holds up the second copper piece, "two copper pieces!"

The captain slams his hands on the table and leans in, his eyebrow twitching irritably. "It's not as amusing the second time, boy!"

Katara tugs on his sleeve, "Aang, can we get out of here? I feel like we're getting weird looks!"

Aang bids farewell to the pirates, and they quickly exit the ship, Katara holding her arms around herself once they get outside. Ka finds herself relaxing once she is outside, freeing the tension from her shoulders.

"What was that all about, Katara?" Aang asks.

"Yeah, I was just starting to browse through their boomerang collection," Sokka says.

"I'll just feel a lot better once we get far away from here," Katara says as her reply, avoiding both their gazes.

"Hey, you! Get back here!"

Ka narrows her eyes, and her suspicions are confirmed when a group of armed pirates suddenly swing out from the boat and surround the group, baring their weapons towards them menacingly.

"I don't think these pirates are here to trade with us!" Katara shouts, and turns to run.

The pirates chase them throughout the market, very nearly catching them at one point, and Ka ends up having to freeze one of them to a pole as he gets close enough to grab her hair. Eventually, they all hop on Aang's glider for a quick, but dangerous escape, and make it back to the river in one piece.

"I used to kind of look up to pirates," Aang says once they make it back, closing up his glider and putting it away, "but those guys are terrible."

Katara grins. "I know," she says. "That's why I took this." She holds out the waterbending scroll.

"No way!"

"Isn't it great?"

"No wonder they were trying to hack us up!" Sokka exclaims. "You stole their waterbending scroll!"

Katara looks away with a smirk, crossing her arms. "I prefer to think of it as _high-risk trading._ "

Aang laughs. "Good one, Katara."

"Sokka, where do you think _they_ got it?" Katara continues, her voice becoming serious. "They stole it from a waterbender!"

"It doesn't matter," Sokka says, waving his arm dismissively. "You put all of our lives in danger just so you could learn some stupid, fancy splashes."

"It was not smart," Ka agrees, refusing to acknowledge the stupid, fancy splashes part of Sokka's statement.

"These are _real_ waterbending forms!" Katara says. "You know how crucial it is for Aang and Ka to learn waterbending!"

Sokka walks away. "Whatever."

"Well, what's done is done," Aang says, ever the mediator. "We have it, we might as well learn from it."

* * *

A few moments later, Aang is holding open the waterbending scroll for Katara to look at. Ka sits on a rock near Sokka, her arms crossed. She feels wrong learning from a scroll that has most likely been passed around, stolen from countless users.

Katara moves to attempt the single water whip, a move Divya had introduced to Ka as a beginner's offensive style. Ka watches with curiosity as Katara moves her way through the steps all wrong, and ends up causing the water to slap her in the forehead.

Sokka laughs from beside Ka, and Katara glares at him, "What's so funny?"

"I'm sorry, but you deserved that," he says, and then turns to Aang. "You've been duped! She's only interested in teaching herself."

"Aang will get his turn once I figure out the water whip!" Katara snaps angrily, and immediately goes to try the move again. It ends as similarly as before, except it hitting her forehead, it hits Momo's back. The latter screeches in pain and skitters away. Katara smacks her head in frustration. "Ugh, why can't I get this stupid move?"

"You'll get it," Aang says reassuringly, or at least tries to, because his words only direct Katara's anger towards him. "You just gotta shift your weight through the stances." He takes one glance at the waterbending form and gets it perfectly on his first try, and Ka can _feel_ the impending explosion from Katara's end. "There, see, the key to bending is—"

"Will you _please_ shut your air hole?" Katara screams, her rage finally boiling over. "Believe it or not, your infinite wisdom gets a little old sometimes! Why don't we just throw the scroll away since you're so _naturally_ gifted?"

She turns to see Sokka's glare and Ka rising from her place on the rock, a protective anger radiating around her.

" _What?_ " When Katara turns to see the tears threatening to spill from Aang's eyes, her expression softens and she gasps. "Oh my gosh, Aang, I am _so_ sorry. I don't know what came over me." She quickly walks over to the scroll and rolls it up. "But you know what, it won't happen again." She hands the scroll to Aang, and grips her wrist with one hand in front of her. "Here, this is yours. I don't want to have _anything_ to do with it anymore."

Aang smiles, but his eyes still look sad. "It's okay, Katara."

"What about Momo?" Sokka asks, and Ka moves over to Aang to put a hand on his shoulder. "He's the real victim here."

Katara kneels down to rub Momo's back delicately. "I'm sorry, Momo."

"And what about me? There was that time you—"

"No more apologies!"

* * *

When the sky fades to night, Ka fastens herself against Appa's fur, tossing and turning in a vague attempt to make herself tired enough to sleep. The others are already out cold, and she finds herself envious.

Her sleep has been filled with nightmares, and every time she closes her eyes she sees orange eyes and faces matching her own. Sleep is futile, and only proves to make her even more exhausted when she wakes.

Suddenly, she hears rustling, and shoots up out of her spot. Looking around with careful, narrowed eyes, Ka sees a figure walk past the bushes. Momo chirps at her, and Ka frowns as she makes her way to her feet.

She follows the figure out to the river, and her stomach drops when she sees Katara standing by the river, the waterbending scroll open on a nearby log. She lifts her arms, attempting to step through one of the moves, but groans and shouts at the water when she fails yet again.

Ka steps forward and bends the water from the river, between Katara's legs, and into her hands. Katara gasps and whirls around, and her form loosens in shame once she sees Ka standing there.

"We learn the moves quickly because we have learned it many times before," Ka says, waving the water around her arms as she walks closer towards Katara. "We have the ability to bend all four elements, so obviously we are naturally-gifted." Her throat hurts from saying so much at once, but she swallows, and pushes the water towards Katara so she can bend it around herself. "You have incredible talent," Ka says sincerely. "To learn so much without any outside help or knowledge..." She pauses. "... is amazing."

Katara blushes. "Thank you, Ka." She lets the water fall back into the river and turns back to her. "You know... you don't talk a whole lot, but when you do, you say really meaningful things."

Ka blinks, tilting her head, unsure of where she is going with this.

"You have a nice voice," Katara says. "You should talk more."

Ka bows her head in an attempt to hide her embarrassment. "Perhaps," she murmurs, mostly to herself.

Katara opens her mouth to say something else, but the sudden sound of metal beats her to it. Ka puts a finger over her lips, and watches as Katara moves over to a nearby bush. She peeks through it, and audibly gasps. Turning back to Ka, she whispers, "Zuko!"

A pair of hands suddenly wrap around Ka's wrists and cover her eyes, and she thrashes against her captor's grip. She hears Katara's shout and the sound of water splashing, and Ka kicks her leg backwards. She swings her foot around her captor's ankle, knocking him to the ground, very nearly sending her with him. Ka kicks away his hand when he tries to grab at her again.

When she turns to find Katara, what meets her is a pair of amber eyes and a hot pair of hands around her wrists.

"I'll save you from the pirates."

* * *

Katara is tied to a tree by the pirates while a pair of Prince Zuko's guards hold Ka's arms behind her back, and in front of her stand two more guards.

"Tell me where he is and I won't hurt you or your brother," Prince Zuko orders, apparently having switched to interrogating Katara in a safeguard to keep Ka in his grasp. She frowns at her revelation.

"Go jump in the river!" Katara retaliates.

The prince looks away for a moment, and starts to move towards her, his voice suddenly changing into something that he most likely tried to make sound trustworthy, but only sounds mocking.

"Try to understand," he says, a smile gracing his lips. "I need to capture him to restore something I've lost: my honor." He moves behind her, bringing his lips to Katara's ear. "Perhaps in exchange I can restore something you've lost." He reaches up and holds her mother's necklace around her neck.

Katara looks down with wide eyes. "My mother's necklace! How did you get that?" she demands furiously.

"I didn't _steal_ it, if that's what you're wondering," the prince replies, dangling the necklace between two fingers. " _Tell me_ where he is."

"No!"

"Enough of this necklace garbage!" the pirate captain shouts. "You promised a scroll!"

The prince purses his lips and takes the scroll from his sash. "I wonder how much this is worth..." he muses, holding it up over his blazing hand. The pirates gasp in horror. "A lot, apparently," the prince says, smirking. "Now you help me find what I want, you'll get this back, and everyone goes home happy. Search the woods for the boy and meet back here!"

When the pirates leave to find Aang, the prince puts the scroll away and immediately whirls around to face Ka. She does not glance up at him, but resists the urge to scowl when she feels him standing in front of her.

"I don't suppose _you_ would tell me where he is," the prince says, "being the Avatar's loyal pet. " He spits the words like they're venom, and Ka locks her jaw to prevent herself from saying something. When she does not move, the prince seethes, "Look at me!"

What a choice of words, Ka thinks. She looks up slowly, her face completely blank, and revels in the rage it brings to the prince.

"You foolish coward," the prince insults.

"You are the coward, Prince Zuko," Ka suddenly says, startling the guards and the prince so bad that the former loosen their grip momentarily and the latter raises his eyebrow in surprise, "and the fool, to think that anyone other than yourself can restore your own honor."

Prince Zuko's surprise is short-lived, and for a moment he makes a motion as if he is going to hit her, but she does not move, and only stares into his eyes firmly. She stands her ground, because she is not afraid, and she will not let the Fire Nation Prince tell her who _she_ is.

The prince does not hit her, in fact, nor does he say anything else. He just scowls—a familiar look for him—and turns away, and the guards' grip on her tightens once more.

She feels a gaze on her, and looks to see the older Fire Nation man giving her an amused look. Ka looks back in front of her, ignoring the man the best she can, but his eyes are studying her, observing her, and it is difficult to simply block it away.

* * *

The sun rises, and the pirates come back with a tied-up Aang and Sokka.

"Nice work," the prince says, holding the scroll in his hands. He walks closer to them, slowly, prepared in case they try any moves.

"Aang, this is all my fault," Katara says.

"No, Katara, it isn't," Aang assures.

"Yeah, it kind of is," the older Fire Nation man says, and Katara glares at him.

Ka has to stand on her toes to look over the guards surrounding her, but when she does, the guards just shove her back down.

"Give me the boy," the prince orders.

" _You_ give _us_ the scroll."

"You're really gonna hand over the _Avatar_ for a stupid piece of parchment?" Sokka asks loudly, and Ka almost chokes on her own spit. She stands on her toes and gives Sokka a look that says _What are you doing?_

"Don't listen to him!" Prince Zuko says quickly. "He's trying to turn us against each other!"

The pirate captain ignores the prince, and turns to look at Aang curiously. "Your friend is the Avatar?"

"Sure is," Sokka replies with a smile, "and I'll bet he'll fetch a lot more on the black market than that fancy scroll."

"Shut your mouth, you Water Tribe peasant!" Prince Zuko shouts, his face getting red from anger.

"Yeah, Sokka, you really should shut your mouth," Aang says warily.

"I'm just sayin' it's bad business sense," Sokka continues, leaning towards the pirates and smirking."Think how much the Fire Lord would pay for the Avatar. You guys would be set for _life._ "

That seems to be the deal-breaker, and the captain turns to the prince. "Keep the scroll," he says. "We can buy a hundred with the reward we'll get for the kid."

They turn to leave, but that apparently does not sit well with Prince Zuko. "You'll regret breaking a deal with me," he warns, and kicks a blast of fire at the pirates.

The pirates jump back, and one of them runs out, swiping smoke bombs towards the Fire Nation soldiers and dodging one blast of fire as it flies over his head. The bombs explode, surrounding the area with thick, white smoke. Ka coughs when it fills her mouth, and feels the soldiers' grip on her loosen. She takes her chance to rip her arms out of their hold, and shove them to the ground.

Ka waves a bit of smoke away, stumbling out of the cloud and coughing, and gasps when she feels the heat of flames lick the back of her neck. She ducks and whirls around to see none other than Prince Zuko, gritting his teeth in what could either be anger or frustration.

"You troublesome little—" She doesn't give him the chance to finish his insult before she bends a large whip of water from the river and smacks him across the face. It knocks him onto his back, and she waves her arms above her head to bring the water around his fallen body. Clenching her fists, she sends the water up his arms and legs and freezes it, trapping him in place.

Feeling a little mischievous, she steps over his fallen form and leans down so her hair surrounds him and her nose nearly touches his. He shouts in rage, his hands heating up in an attempt to melt the ice, and Ka stares at him for a few moments.

"Who is the fool now?"

Not giving him time to react (and noticing the approaching pirate captain), Ka jumps off his fallen body and runs past the smoke cloud, following the voices of her friends to see them running towards the pirate boat on the shore.

"Help me get this boat back in the water so we can get out of here!" Katara says once she sees them coming, struggling to push it in by herself. The four of them all try to shove it back, but the boat is so large and heavy that the four of them are not enough.

"We'd need a team of rhinos to budge this ship," Sokka says.

"A team of rhinos," Aang says, "or three waterbenders."

Aang, Ka, and Katara push and pull the water as quick as they can, and when the boat rises high enough, they scramble onto the deck. Sokka moves to steer the ship when it takes off, and Ka looks back to watch for anyone following them.

Sure enough, the metal ship is charging at them, full of pirates.

"Sokka, can't you make it go any faster?" Aang shouts.

"I don't know how!" Sokka exclaims. "This thing wasn't made by the Water Tribe!"

The metal boat catches up enough for the pirates to jump onto the ship. Aang and Ka glance at each other, and then waterbend them off with a quick wave from the river. As a pirate begins to approach Katara, they move to help her out, but Katara takes a stray puddle and whips the pirate off the boat with the water from it.

"Hey, you did the water whip!" Aang says excitedly.

"I couldn't have done it without yours and Ka's help!"

"Would you two quit congratulating each other and help me out?" Sokka shouts, his voice strained, from his place between two pirates. One of the pirates throws him to the lower deck, and Aang jumps behind him and airbends the two pirates off the boat.

"Aang, look!" Katara suddenly shouts, and points towards the front of the ship.

Ka looks up, and her heart drops when she sees them charging towards a large waterfall.

"Oh no..."

When a pirate approaches Aang, all the latter does is blow his bison whistle as loud as he can. While the pirate stares, unimpressed, Sokka knocks him off with a harsh shove. The waterfall gets closer and closer and the three waterbenders have no choice but to push and pull the water to keep them from going over. They manage to create two small whirlpools that slow the boat down, holding it in place. Their victory is short-lived, and the prince's metal boat comes crashing into them with nobody on-board to stop it. The pirate ship falls over the waterfall, and the group falls with it. As they go flying from the boat, Appa flies towards them and catches them in his saddle.

Ka grabs onto his saddle for dear life when they manage to fly far enough away.

"I knew a bison whistle would come in handy!" Aang says, holding up the whistle with a smile. "Thanks, Appa."

"Yeah, we owe you one," Sokka says, and Ka pats his fur gratefully.

"I still owe you an apology," Katara says, looking down at her lap.

"To Aang, mostly," Ka murmurs.

"You were just so good at waterbending without really trying," Katara continues. "I got so competitive that I put us all in danger. I'm sorry."

"That's okay, Katara," Aang says, and Ka can only wonder how he can forgive so easily.

"Besides, who needs that stupid scroll anyway?"

Sokka grins, pulling the scroll out from behind his back. "Is that _really_ how you feel?"

"The scroll!" Katara moves to snatch it from his hands, but Sokka leans back and puts his hand out to block her.

"First, what did you learn?"

"Stealing is wrong," Katara replies, and, satisfied with her answer, Sokka hands her the scroll. She takes it eagerly and holds it close to her chest, smirking. "Unless it's from pirates."

Ka rolls her eyes and the others laugh, and she turns to look back at the clouds behind them.

* * *

"Stupid waterbending girl," Zuko mutters to himself as he and his uncle make their way back to his ship.

"The Water Tribe girl, nephew?" Iroh asks, a knowing smile gracing his lips.

Zuko clenches his fists in frustration, his feet loudly stomping against the metal hull as he storms onto the deck. "Of course not!" he blows up. "The Minder! Who does she think she is!? Calling me a _fool?_ She is the fool!" He clicks his tongue. "Who looks that young and has white hair? What a freak."

"I find her features to be incredibly unique," his uncle says thoughtfully. "I believe there's more to her than meets the eye." He eyes him carefully. "As with the Avatar."

"Who cares?" Zuko snaps. He doesn't understand why his uncle never tells things to him straight, and instead insists on mixing his words together so he has to stay up all night trying to figure out what the hell he means. "Once I capture them, they will be delivered to my father, and I will finally be home." He has to resist the urge to punch the wall—why must the Minder be so _irritating_ all the time? "I don't have time for such trivial things."

His uncle is quiet for a few moments, and then he hums thoughtfully. Zuko's eye twitches at the sound. "I see," Iroh says, and then yawns. "Well, I am heading to bed. You should go rest soon." With that, he leaves, and Zuko decides to head to his own room so he cannot be disturbed.

Zuko sits on his bed, armor discarded, and loses himself in his thoughts. It wasn't uncommon for him to think about the Avatar's companions—(and, most embarrassingly, he has thought of the Water Tribe boy more often than not)—but only once or twice has the Minder ever graced his thoughts. Tonight, she appears constantly, and even when he tries to think about something, anything else, her terrifyingly vivid, violet eyes shine through everything else. He wonders where she could come from, what kind of heritage she could have to give her that appearance. She wears clothing that looks similar to the Water Tribe, but her face couldn't be anything less. Her tattoos run over her entire body, it seems, from her face to her arms. Her hair is as white as snow, and yet she looks to be the same age as him. Her most striking feature, Zuko decides, is her eyes, because he has never seen a pigment of that variety before, not once.

 _What if she is faking it? If she is not really the Minder?_ The idea crosses his mind but he sets it aside quickly—he has seen her eyes and tattoos glow

He realizes he is doing exactly what he told his uncle was trivial, and groans.

Her appearance is strange, but her behavior is even stranger. Her face is blank, always, and he has seen her eyes look irritated but her expression has not once changed, not once twitched. He has never seen a smile, or even a frown; nothing but that irritating, annoying, emotionless face that makes him angrier than he can explain. When she speaks, it is flat, and he has only heard her say something once.

 _"You are the coward, Prince Zuko, and the fool, to think that anyone other than yourself can restore your own honor."_

Angered by how much the useless Minder has plagued his thoughts, Zuko angrily turns to his side and squeezes his eyes shut, forcing himself to sleep. He dreams of the Avatar and his Minder in chains and himself sitting at his father's side, finally welcome home.

* * *

"Uh-uh. No flying this time."

After freeing Momo and a couple of hog-monkeys from Fire Nation traps, the group quickly packs up their things in a preparation to leave—that is, until Sokka steps in.

"What?" Aang asks in confusion. "Why wouldn't we fly?"

"Think about it," Sokka says, taking the sleeping bag Aang holds in his arms. "Somehow Prince Zuko and the Fire Nation keep finding us. It's because they spot Appa! He's just too noticeable."

"What? Appa's not too noticeable!"

Sokka sighs and largely gestures to Appa. "He's a gigantic fluffy monster with an arrow on his head! It's kinda hard to miss him!"

When Appa yawns in reply, Aang happily pats his head and says, "Sokka's just jealous 'cause he doesn't have an arrow."

"We are all very noticeable," Ka breaks in, tugging on a strand of her own hair, and glancing at Aang's own form.

"I know you all wanna fly," Sokka continues, "but my instincts tell me we should play it safe this time and walk."

Katara crosses her arms and leans in towards her brother. "Who made _you_ the boss?'

Sokka points his thumb to his chest, "I'm not the boss, I'm the leader."

" _You're_ the leader?" Katara laughs. "But your voice still cracks!"

"I'm the oldest, and I'm a warrior, so," Sokka tries, his voice inevitably cracking in the middle of his sentence, "I'm the leader!"

"If anyone's the leader, it should be Aang or Ka," Katara says matter-of-factly. "I mean they are the Avatar and Minder."

"Are you kidding?" Sokka asks. "Aang's just a goofy kid and Ka barely ever says a word."

Ka shrugs in reply as Aang smiles from his place on Appa's horn, upside-down and his feet dangling in the air, "He's right."

"Why do boys always think someone has to be the leader?" Katara muses, and then smirks. "I bet you wouldn't be so bossy if you kissed a girl."

Ka wonders what kissing a girl has to do with bossiness, but does not say anything.

"I've kissed a girl, you just haven't met her," Sokka replies quickly, his eyes darting side to side.

"Who? _Gran-Gran?_ I've met Gran-Gran."

Sokka throws his arms in the air in frustration. "No, besides Gran-Gran!" He sighs, and says, "Look, my instincts tell me we have a better chance of slipping through on foot, and a leader has to trust his instincts."

"Okay," Katara drawls sarcastically, "we'll try it your way, _oh wise leader._ "

Aang throws on a backpack, walking towards the rest of the group with a big grin on his face. "Who knows? Walking might be fun!"

* * *

"Walking _stinks!_ " Aang complains not even five minutes later. "How do people go _anywhere_ without a flying bison?"

They each carry a backpack, trudging along with Appa all the way behind them. Ka does not mind walking, personally, considering all of her mini-adventures in the Spirit World's swamp. But then again, that was when she was a full spirit, and the human functions like eating and exercise were not known to her.

"Well, I don't know, Aang," Katara replies, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Why don't you ask Sokka's instincts? They seem to know _everything._ "

"Ha-ha. Very funny," Sokka says dryly.

"I'm tired of carrying this backpack," Aang complains, again.

"You know who you should ask to carry it for a while? Sokka's instincts!"

"That's a great idea! Hey, Sokka's instincts, would you mind—"

"Okay, okay, I get it," Sokka cuts them off. "Look guys, I'm tired too, but the important thing is that we're safe from the Fire..." They walk through a bush and directly in front of a camp crawling with soldiers. "... Nation."

The group and the soldiers all stare at each other for a few moments, the gears turning in the latter's heads. When the soldiers all stand to attack, they attempt to make a run for it, but one of the soldiers leaps forward and lights the bush behind them on fire. It creates a giant blaze that gives them no hope of escaping, and when the fire catches onto their clothes, Ka and Katara end up having to douse the flames by bending the water from their small pouches. With no other options, they turn to the soldiers with a protective fighting stance.

"If you let us pass, we promise not to hurt you," Sokka announces.

"What are you _doing?_ " Katara whispers.

"Bluffing?

One of the soldiers looks as if he is about to laugh. " _You_ promise not to hurt _us?_ " Before he can say anything else, he's suddenly knocked out by something unseen, and falls to the ground before them.

"Nice work, Sokka!" Aang says. "How'd you do that?"

"Uh..." Sokka replies unsurely, offering a shrug. "Instinct?"

Katara suddenly gasps and points up, "Look!"

When Ka looks, she sees a boy with hooked swords leap down from a tree branch and land on top of two soldiers. He runs forward and hooks his swords into the back of two more soldiers' armor, flipping them over his back and landing in front of the group.

"Down you go," he says, and Katara beams.

More kids jump from the trees and take down the soldiers, rather impressively, and Ka can see they each have a different style of fighting. She wonders who could have trained them, because the majority of them seem quite young. She looks to see Sokka trying to take down soldiers, but to no avail, for the rampaging children and the boy with the hooked swords beat him to the punch.

Once all the soldiers are taken down, the boy with the hooked swords runs up to Katara and stands over her with a grin.

"Hey," he says.

Katara averts her gaze, obviously impressed. "Hi."

"You just took out a whole army almost single-handed!" Aang exclaims. Ka folds her arms over her chest, and watches the gaggle of young fighters gather up the supplies the soldiers left behind.

"Army?" Sokka repeats disdainfully. "There were only, like, twenty guys."

"My name is Jet," says the boy with the hooked swords, completely ignoring Sokka, and gestures to the rest of the kids, "and these are my Freedom Fighters. Sneers, Longshot, Smellerbee, The Duke, and Pipsqueak."

Aang laughs and walks up to the smallest of the children, bending down slightly. "Ha, Pipsqueak, that's a funny name."

The smallest child only sniffs, and the large man next to him leers over Aang warningly. "You think my name is funny?"

Aang pauses, and then, "It's hilarious!"

There's a silence from Pipsqueak, but then he suddenly starts laughing heartily. He pats Aang on the back, but the force is so strong it knocks Aang to the ground. Everyone stops laughing for another moment, but then Aang looks up and starts giggling, and the laughing resumes. Ka just shakes her head at the whole ordeal.

"Umm..." comes Katara's voice, "thanks for saving us, Jet. We're lucky you were there."

Jet takes the stick of wheat out of his mouth with another smirk. "I should be thanking you. We were waiting to ambush those soldiers all morning. We just needed the right distraction, and then you guys stumbled in."

Katara eyes Sokka with an annoyed gaze. "We were relying on _instincts._ "

Jet pauses. "You'll get yourself killed doing that."

Eventually, Jet invites them to the Freedom Fighter's hideout, where they stop in front of a group of large, tall trees. He stays especially close to Katara, Ka notices, and the way he speaks and carries himself annoys Ka to no end. She does not give him the benefit of acknowledging him, and Katara seems to like him a lot, so she does not think about it much more.

"We're here," Jet says, looking up at the trees.

"Where?" Sokka asks. "There's nothing here."

Jet grabs onto a rope hidden in the leaves and hands it to Sokka. "Hold this."

Sokka skeptically takes it, furrowing his eyebrows. "Why? What's this do?" He is answered by the rope suddenly pulling him into the branches, his scream echoing as he goes higher and higher.

"Aang?" Jet then says, offering Aang another rope.

"I'll get up on my own," Aang says, and prepares to jump up, but then notices Ka standing there with her arms crossed, giving a side-eyed glare towards Jet. He grins and wraps one arm around her waist, airbending the two of them up into the trees.

They manage to land onto a wooden platform built around the base of the tree, and Ka takes a moment to marvel at the size and quality of the hideout. Most of the Freedom Fighters appear to be children—did they build this hideout all by themselves?

"Hey, look, a zip-line!" Aang suddenly shouts, and when Ka turns to see what he is referring to, there is, in fact, a zip-line attached to the tree. When she follows the line with her eyes, it seems to go all around the hideout.

Aang fumbles with the handle for a moment, and then grins excitedly as he holds onto it with both of his hands. "Ka, c'mon!" he encourages, and the person in question blinks with wide eyes at him for a moment.

"Uh... I'm not sure..." she murmurs, holding onto the other handle behind Aang. She isn't sure how a zip-line works; this is the first time she is seeing one in person.

Before she can even say anything else, Aang starts running and pushes himself off the wooden platform with a small burst of airbending, and Ka hears his whoop of glee as he zooms down the line. She hesitates, but goes to follow him, holding onto the handles as tight as she can. The zip-line is _fast,_ and she feels her heart drop to her stomach, but she also feels the adrenaline rush through her body.

She starts to catch up with Aang, until she's directly behind him. He looks back and laughs excitedly, and Ka has to force down what would have been a big, embarrassing smile. She bites her lip and settles for exhaling through her nose, and coughs when Momo jumps to her shoulder and settles himself in the junction between her neck and shoulder.

They zip by Jet and Katara, who are walking on a bridge.

"Nice place you got!" Aang shouts, and they are as gone as fast as they came.

When she is sure nobody can hear her, Ka lets herself laugh, even if just for a moment. But Aang hears it, of course he does, and he gets so excited that he nearly lets go of the zip-line.

He doesn't, of course, and Ka finds herself enjoying the zip-line a lot more than she thought she would.

(The physical world is made of truly incredible things.)

* * *

"Tonight," Jet announces from his place on the banquet table, a small, wooden cup in his hands, "we struck another blow against the Fire Nation swine!" His words are met with wondrous cheers and applause, though Sokka and Ka seem to be the only ones silent. "I got a special joy from the look on one soldier's face, when The Duke dropped down on his helmet and rode him like a wild hog-monkey."

The Duke eagerly climbs onto the table and marches around, throwing his hands in the air, relishing in the cheers thrown his way. When he climbs back down to his seat, Jet's speech continues.

"Now, the Fire Nation thinks they don't have to worry about a couple of kids hiding in the trees." Jet looks down towards his cup and closes his eyes, feigning thoughtfulness. "Maybe they're right." The crowd boos in response. "Or maybe..." Jet says, and then stomps his foot on the table fiercely, "they're _dead_ wrong."

He gets down from the table to sit next to Katara, smiling at the sound of the other Freedom Fighters cheering and laughing with one another.

"Hey Jet," Katara greets, "nice speech."

"Thanks," Jet says, and nudges his head in their direction. "By the way, I was really impressed with you, Aang, and Ka. That was some great bending I saw out there today."

"Well, they're great. They're the Avatar and the Minder," Katara says. She looks down, a blush coloring her cheeks. "I could use some more training."

"Avatar and Minder, huh?" Jet says, and points towards them with one finger. " _Very_ nice."

"Thanks, Jet!" Aang says in reply, and Ka just looks to the side.

"So I might know a way that you, Aang, and Ka can help in our struggle," Jet continues.

Ka already isn't interested, but Sokka speaks up before she can even voice her opinion (as if she was going to, anyway), "Unfortunately, we have to leave tonight."

"Sokka, you're kidding me!" Jet exclaims when Sokka starts to walk away, and his voice sounds so obviously fake Ka has to clench her fists. "I needed you on an important mission tomorrow."

Sokka stops in his tracks, and Ka hopes he seriously is not considering joining him in whatever fake plot Jet has thought of now.

(After all, Jet did not even know of them before this morning. If his plan was already set in motion before, he would not need any of them. Surely he had enough Fighters for it to run smoothly.)

(Ka wonders if she is too serious for her friends.)

"What mission?"

She sighs.

* * *

The next day, when Sokka is gone on his "important mission," Aang and Ka find it is in their best interest to play with the zip-lines again. Aang talks to The Duke for a few moments before he zooms down the line, and Ka sees The Duke excitedly hand him some kind of bag.

Before Ka can even get her hands on the handle, she feels someone's eyes on her. Turning, she sees Longshot staring at her from the trees. For a moment, she pretends as if she didn't see, but knows the archer is too sharp-minded to believe her. So, she stares back, firmly, rivaling his blank expression with her own. Upon coming to the hideout, Ka has noticed that Longshot is as taciturn as she, or as much as she was before coming to the physical world.

They stare for what seems like hours, but in reality, it is simply a few moments. Soon, Longshot leaves, disappearing as suddenly as he appeared.

Ka looks back to her zip-line and takes off, not thinking about it any longer than she must.

* * *

Aang and Ka land on one of the wooden platforms when they see Sokka and Katara standing on it.

"Sokka!" Aang shouts excitedly. "Look what The Duke gave me!" He pulls out the bag he got from The Duke and pulls out a small, brown pellet. He grins slyly, and tosses it on the ground next to Momo's feet. The pellet explodes with a loud, sudden popping sound, and Momo screeches in retaliation. When Momo takes the bag and starts throwing the pellets around Aang's feet, Ka can't help but think he deserves it.

"Hey, Sokka," Katara says, and Ka suddenly notices Sokka's angry expression. "Is Jet back?"

"Yeah, he's back," Sokka mutters. "But _we're_ leaving."

"What?" Aang asks.

Katara frowns. "But I made him this hat." From behind her back, she pulls out a roughly-stitched hat made out of stray leaves and flowers.

"Your boyfriend Jet's a thug," Sokka states.

Katara blinks with wide eyes. "What?" she asks in obvious disbelief. "No, he's not."

"He's messed up, Katara."

"He's not messed up," Aang assures, "he's just got a different way of life; a really _fun_ way of life!"

"He beat and robbed a harmless old man!" Sokka protests, and Ka's eyes go wide.

Folding her arms across her chest and huffing, Katara says, "I want to hear _Jet's_ side of the story."

When they confront Jet, he replies as much as Ka thought he would. Who would admit to beating and robbing an old man, after all?

(At some point, Aang ends up wearing the hat originally meant for Jet. The hat itself is goofy, and Aang himself is even goofier; Ka thinks it fitting.)

"Sokka, you told them what happened, but you didn't mention that the guy was Fire Nation?" Jet asks, propping his elbow up on his knee.

"No, he _conveniently_ left that part out," Katara says, looking back at her brother with an irritated look.

"Fine!" Sokka relents. "But even if he was Fire Nation, he was a harmless civilian!"

Ka raises an eyebrow. Sokka's attitude towards anyone Fire Nation, months ago, was violent and angry. It's _odd_ to see him defend anyone hailing from the Fire Nation, even if they are innocent.

"He was an assassin, Sokka," Jet insists, and suddenly unsheathes a sinister knife from behind him. He thrusts it into the stump beside him, and pulls on the end of the grip, revealing a small glass tube filled with some sort of red liquid. "See? There's a compartment for poison in the knife." Jet looks up at Sokka—his eyes are lying. "He was sent to eliminate me; you helped save my life, Sokka."

"I knew there was an explanation," Katara says thankfully, clasping her hands together.

"I didn't see any knife!" Sokka protests.

"That's because he was _concealing_ it."

"See, Sokka?" Katara says, turning to her brother. "I'm sure you just didn't notice the knife."

"There was no knife!" Sokka all but shouts. He turns to stomp away, "I'm going back to the hut and packing my things."

When he leaves, Jet looks up at the three remaining, and says, "Tell me you guys aren't leaving yet. I really need your help."

"What can we do?" Aang asks as Ka is already thinking up excuses to get herself out of this.

"The Fire Nation is planning on burning down our forest. If you three use waterbending to fill the reservoir, we could fight the fires." Jet looks up at them with a desperate look. "But if you leave now, they'll destroy the _whole_ valley."

* * *

"We can't leave now with the Fire Nation about to burn down a forest!" Katara shouts, storming into the hut they have taken refuge in.

"I'm sorry, Katara," Sokka says, tying up a mat on the floor. "Jet's very smooth, but we can't trust him."

Ka feels inclined to agree, but Katara isn't done: "You know what I think? You're jealous that he's a better warrior and a better leader!"

"Katara," Sokka sighs exasperatedly, "I'm not jealous of Jet. It's just that my instincts—"

"Well, my instincts tell me we need to stay here a little longer and help Jet," Katara interrupts, and turns to leave. "Come on, Aang, Ka."

"Sorry, Sokka," Aang says as he follows Katara out.

Ka moves to follow, but stops in place. She turns back to Sokka, and meets his gaze.

"Jet cannot be trusted," she says, and leaves the hut.

* * *

Jet takes the three of them to the river near the dam. It turns out to be filled with geysers, and one of them very nearly blasts Ka several feet into the air (it blasts Aang, but he is an airbender, and lands completely fine).

Their mission is to bend the water out of the vents and into the river so it fills up. Ka finds herself questioning the motives behind this—if the Fire Nation was planning to burn down the forest, would they not go to the soldiers directly and take them down before they could do so, rather than attempt to douse the flames after the job is done?

She frowns. Jet notices. He furrows her eyebrows at her, and she pretends as if he doesn't exist.

Once they manage to bend one of the geysers, they move onto the next.

"Okay, you three keep it up," Jet says. "I'l go check on things at the reservoir."

"When we're done we'll meet you over there," Katara calls.

"Actually..." Jet suddenly says, fumbling in his steps, "probably better if you meet me back at the hideout when you're done."

He walks away, and their job continues, but Ka narrows her eyes in suspicion and wonders just what he could be planning.

(The way Jet speaks—his calm, controlled tone that makes anyone curious to hear more—reminds her of her father. And that is never good.)

* * *

When they finish, Katara decides to surprise Jet at the reservoir. For once, Ka agrees with her decision, because she wants to see just exactly what the leader is up to.

As they walk, they notice the dam over the cliff side and people on it. At the base of the dam, a few Freedom Fighters are unloading barrels from a wagon.

"What are they doing?" Katara asks curiously, leaning forward as if it would give her a better view.

"Hey, those are the red barrels he got from the Fire Nation," Aang mentions, and Ka goes frozen; now she knows why.

"Why would they need blasting jelly?"

"Jet is going to blow up the dam," Ka says, trying to keep her hands from trembling.

"What?" Katara says, horrified. "No, that would destroy the town. Jet _wouldn't_ do that."

Aang suddenly takes out his glider, sliding it open. "We've gotta stop him," he says firmly, and Ka nods once at me.

They move to take off, but don't make it very far. Jet swipes in from the slide and snatches the glider with his hooks. Aang and Ka dangle on the edge, and he airbends both of them back to stability.

"Yes," Jet says, moving to his feet, "I would."

"Jet..." Katara whispers. "Why?"

"Katara, you would too if you just stopped to think," Jet starts to explain. "Think about what the Fire Nation did to your mother. We can't let them do that to anyone else, ever again."

"This isn't the answer!" Katara pleads.

Jet is willing to _drown_ innocent people just to get rid of a few bad ones. He has no hesitation in murdering people, innocent lives, _families._ The thought makes Ka sick, and she wonders just how kindly the Spirits would treat him.

"I want you to understand me, Katara." Jet starts to move closer to her. "I thought your brother would understand, but—"

"Where's Sokka?" Katara demands, tears falling from her eyes and streaming down her cheeks. Jet reaches out and cups her face with one of his hands.

"Katara..."

She looks down, quiet for a moment. With an angry shout, she sends Jet flying with a blast of water from her pouch.

"We need to get to the dam!" Aang says, and moves to reach for his glider. Before he can snatch it up, Jet launches his hook forward and yanks the glider towards him.

"You're not going anywhere without your glider," Jet says firmly, swinging his hooks in their direction. They have to jump back to avoid being hit, and end up climbing into a tree.

"We're not going to fight you, Jet!" Aang shouts, even though Ka kind of wants to.

"You'll have to if you want your glider back!" Jet taunts, and chases after them.

Jet attacks them with a ferocity that worries Ka. He seems determined to hurt them, even kill them, just to achieve his goals. Aang has a better advantage—being an airbender, he can launch himself to different trees and leap to incredible heights to avoid Jet's attacks. Ka, on the other hand, is limited to her quick reaction time and her affinity for outsmarting her opponents. Jet ends up getting close enough to hit her, and he swings his hook swords right at her face. She leans back, bending back as far as she can, and the hooks just barely miss her nose. Jumping back up, she bends water out of her pouch and sends him flying back into the tree. Aang leaps down and picks her up, airbending themselves across a few more branches in an escape attempt.

Eventually, Jet manages to catch up to them, and sends them both falling to the ground of the forest. They fall onto a branch, and before Jet can make another attack, Aang twirls a powerful stream of air around the branch and directly against Jet. He manages to withstand the strong winds, but the glider falls from his back, and tumbles to the ground. Aang looks down where it fell, and before he can jump down, Jet kicks him into a trunk, and he falls to the ground. Ka widens her eyes and grapples the small branch above her head. She jumps, lifting herself up to avoid Jet's swords at her feet, and spins to smack a harsh kick against his face. He stumbles, groans, and it gives Ka a chance to slide down to the ground next to Aang.

Aang groans, struggling to get up, and Ka narrows her eyes when she sees Jet approaching them. Before he can get close, however, a sudden wave of water sends him flying, and he lands with a hard thump against the trunk of a tree. Katara's attack is fierce, and she forces him back against it before freezing the water that coats him. Jet, frozen to the tree, looks up at her in horror. Ka resists the urge to laugh at his expression.

" _Why,_ Jet?" Katara asks breathlessly. "I can't believe I trusted you." She shakes her head, as if in disbelief over her own actions. "You lied to me—you're _sick_ and I trusted you!"

Suddenly, a bird call sounds through the air. Jet, without hesitation, answers back with a whistle of his own.

"What are you doing?" Katara asks quickly, her face pale in fear.

"You're too late," Jet says.

"No!"

Aang runs for his glider and opens it, but the wings of his glider are folded and damaged. He falls to the ground, and Ka and Katara run to his side to help him up.

"Sokka is still out there," Ka says.

"He's our only chance," Aang continues, his voice pained.

"Come on, Sokka," Katara pleads, her voice soft. "I'm sorry I ever doubted you. Please..."

A flaming arrow is shot towards the base of the dam, where the blasting jelly lies. There is nothing to stop it, and the center of the dam explodes violently. The massive wave of water rushes towards the town in no time, swallowing up the walls and the rest of the nature around it.

Ka closes her eyes, expecting to feel the pain of hundreds of people. She feels nothing, she does not feel the pain of death and fear, and opens her eyes with curious wonder.

"Sokka didn't make it in time," Aang says, but when he sees Ka's expression, his own goes unsure.

"All those people..." Katara whispers, and whirls around to face Jet again. "Jet, you monster!"

"This was a victory, Katara," Jet still continues on. "Remember that. The Fire Nation is gone and this valley will be safe."

"It _will_ be safe, without you." Sokka suddenly comes up the cliff, sitting on Appa's head and holding his reins firmly.

"Sokka!" Katara gasps.

"I warned the villagers of your plan, just in time," Sokka says, sounding smug. Ka exhales in relief.

" _What!?_ " Jet seethes.

"At first they didn't believe me," Sokka explains. "The Fire Nation soldiers assumed I was a spy. But one man vouched for me, the old man _you_ attacked. He urged them to trust me, and we got everyone out in time."

"Sokka, you fool!" Jet shouts angrily. "We could've freed this valley!"

"Who would be free?" Sokka asks. "Everyone would be dead."

"You _traitor!_ "

"No, Jet. _You_ became the traitor when you stopped protecting innocent people." Ka couldn't have said it better herself.

They all make their way onto Appa, but Katara hesitates before climbing up.

"Katara," Jet tries, in a last-ditch attempt, "please, help me."

Katara closes her eyes. "Goodbye, Jet," she says softly, and takes Aang hand when he reaches down to help her onto his saddle.

Sokka does not spare Jet a glance, and firmly flicks Appa's reigns.

"Yip-yip."

* * *

"We thought you were going to the dam," Aang says. "How come you went to the town instead?"

"Let me guess..." Katara muses. "Your instincts told you."

Sokka shrugs. "Hey, sometimes they're right."

"Um, Sokka?" Aang asks.

"We are going the wrong way," Ka continues.

Sokka blinks, and then pulls Appa's reigns to the other side. "And sometimes they're wrong!"

* * *

The Great Divide is one of the most boring events of Ka's journey thus far.

She ends up being on the neutral side with Aang, and barely knows what goes on the entire time. She dislikes both the tribes, and fighting the beasts in the Great Divide is as exhausting as it is annoying.

Aang ends up lying in the end to make everyone happy, and Ka couldn't have been more grateful to fly far away from it.

* * *

"How often do you guys do that?" Katara asks Aang and Ka, suddenly, when they are flying through the clouds.

Aang and Ka glance at each other. "Do what?" they ask in unison.

Katara blinks. "Well, _that._ "

"You guys finish each other's sentences and talk at the same time," Sokka agrees from his place on Appa's head. Momo is laying on his chest, fast asleep. "It's kinda creepy."

Ka looks over at Aang, and she knows they are thinking the same thing. It's times like these where she is thankful for the powerful connection between an Avatar and a Minder.

"I haven't—" Aang starts.

"—really noticed," Ka continues.

"Do we really speak at the same time?" they finish in unison. Katara and Sokka stare at them with matching, horrified expressions.

"Well, now you're doing it on purpose," Katara deadpans, but she sounds somewhat amused.

"I think it's our connection," Aang explains, deciding to be serious. "If one of us feels an emotion strongly, the other can feel it too. Our souls _and_ minds are connected."

"Ka feels emotions?" Sokka gasps dramatically, mostly joking, but it annoys Ka enough to the point where she tosses a pebble at him.

"That's cool!" Katara exclaims, leaning forward. "Can you tell what the other is thinking?"

Aang and Ka stare at each other for a long moment. Ka eyes him up and down thoughtfully, and then turns back to Katara.

"Custard tarts," she says.

Aang grins. "She's right."

"I worry about you two sometimes," comes Sokka's voice, and they all laugh.

(Even Ka, who lets herself snort a little. She's learning.)

* * *

 **can you tell how much i hate the great divide?**

 **so. jet! i actually quite like him, in the later episodes, of course.**

 **also, zuko's starting to think more about our dear main character. not romantically; not yet, anyway. who wouldn't be intrigued in someone with white hair and violet eyes, after all? i'm not sure if you noticed, but i like to headcanon zuko (and most of the characters in a:tla, honestly) as bisexual or otherwise not-straight. i think the idea of zuko having a crush on sokka following the south pole raid for maybe, two days, is adorable. so, yeah.**

 **coming up next is the storm (how exciting), the blue spirit (even more exciting), and _maybe_ the fortuneteller. depends on how long the first two end up being. you'll see.**

 **i hope you've been enjoying the story thus far!**


	6. season one: episodes 12-14

**7 reviews is actually a lot more than i was expecting to get for this fanfic, to be honest. it's fun to write, but i have never thought my writing was very good. it seems that quite a few people are enjoying it.**

 **i hope that's true.**

 **anyway, here's the next chapter. rather exciting, i must say.**

* * *

Ka finds that her connection to Aang is so strong they have the ability to share dreams.

She discovers this when Aang has a nightmare one night—they sit side by side on Appa, while Katara and Sokka fly beside them (the former on an enlarged version of Momo and the latter on Aang's glider). The sun is setting, bathing the sky in a warm red-yellow. They smile at one another, laughing and sharing joy.

" _We need you, Aang._ "

" _We need you, Ka._ "

" _I need you too,_ " Aang and Ka reply in unison, though their voices are overtaken by hundreds of others.

Then the sky darkens, and a churning storm cloud bubbles before them. Their friends disappear, leaving them all alone on Appa's head.

Gyatso appears before them, and Koh the Face Stealer appears behind them. While Aang reaches out for his mentor, Ka leans back from her father, fear painting her face and causing her to fall off the bison. The storm cloud swallows them both, sending Aang and Appa spiraling into the ocean. Ka feels her lungs fill with water before a whirlwind of fire swirls around her.

Then she is waking up with a gasp matching Aang's, and they stare at each other with startled gazes. Momo jumps up and in turn leaps onto Katara, waking her up, followed by Sokka, who shoots up with his weapons in hand.

"What's going on?" Sokka asks dazedly. "Did we get captured again?"

"It's nothing," Aang says quickly, and he swallows thickly. "Just a bad dream." He turns and curls his body away from them. "Go back to sleep."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Sokka murmurs.

Katara turns to face them, a frown etched into her face. "Are you alright?"

"I'm okay," Aang says, his voice distant. Ka nods once in response, but it's very obviously a lie.

"You seem to be having a lot of nightmares lately," Katara says, "both of you. You wanna tell me about it?"

"I think I just need some rest."

Ka looks back towards her friend and tries to offer a reassuring smile, but her face is too frozen to even lift her lips. "Me too."

Katara does not look convinced, but it's acceptable to her for now, and they all go back to sleep.

* * *

In the morning, they pack up for another day of flying.

"Look at those clear skies, buddy!" Aang exclaims, and gestures across the sky. "Should be some smooth flyin'!"

Katara looks into a bag and frowns, before holding it upside down and shaking it. When nothing comes up but crumbs, she walks up Appa's tail to the others.

"Well, we better smoothly fly ourselves to a market," she says, "'cause we're out of food."

Sokka shoots his head up, his face horrified. "Guys, wait," he says, his voice more serious than Ka's ever heard him. "This was in my dream. We shouldn't go to the market."

"What happened in your dream?"

"Food _eats_ people!"

They just shake their heads at him.

As they make their way to depart, Aang pulls Ka aside near the front of the saddle. He sits on Appa's head, turning around and resting his arms on the edge of his saddle. Ka leans forward, frowning.

"Who was that in our dream?" he asks softly, his voice low enough so the siblings couldn't hear.

Ka blinks. "Who?"

"There was... Gyatso," Aang swallows thickly, and Ka can see the hurt flash through his eyes, "but then there was someone else behind us. He chased you."

Ka immediately looks down, trying to mask her fearful expression. But nothing gets past Aang, and he lifts his head slightly in concern.

"Ka?"

"My father," she blurts, her voice sounding weak. "It was my father," she says one final time, and turns her back to her Avatar. She feels his gaze on the back of her head, but ignores it, and squeezes her eyes shut.

The subject is dropped, and they take off.

* * *

Their market encounters include an angry soldier, a tired beggar, and an exasperated merchant whom insists her melons are perfectly ripe.

In the end, they cannot buy a thing, and stand in the middle of the market somewhat defeated.

"Out of food and out of money," Sokka says, stating the obvious. "Now what are we supposed to do?"

"You could get a job, smart guy."

"You shouldn't go out there!" a sudden shout comes from behind them, and they turn to see a fisherman and a woman walking towards the docks. "Please, the fish can wait. There's going to be a terrible storm!"

Aang's eyes widen in alarm, and Ka clenches her fists at the feeling shared through them.

"You're crazy," the fisherman insists. "It's a nice day! No clouds, no wind, no _nothin',_ so quit your nagging, woman."

Aang looks towards the rest of them with a nervous smile. "Maybe we should find some shelter?"

"Are you kidding?" Sokka asks incredulously. "Shelter from _what?_ "

"My joints say there's going to be a storm! A bad one!" the woman continues, oblivious to the group of children in front of them.

"Well, it's _your_ joints against _my_ brain."

"Then I hope your brain can find someone _else_ to haul that fish, 'cause I ain't comin'!"

"Then I'll find a _new_ fish hauler and pay him _double_ what you get! How do you like _that?_ "

Sokka suddenly runs up with his hand in the air. "I'll go."

"You're hired!" the fisherman shouts, and smirks at his wife triumphantly. She only scowls back, her hands on her hips.

Finally noticing the odd looks the other are giving him, Sokka turns back and gives a light shrug. "What? You said get a job... and he's paying _double._ "

"Double?" the old man asks. "Who told you that nonsense?"

Ka rolls her eyes.

A few minutes later, as Sokka takes the fisherman's wife place, he starts carrying boxes of supplies into the boat. Sure enough, the woman's joints were right, and dark storm clouds similar to the ones in the dream roll in from the distance.

"Sokka, maybe this isn't such a good idea," Aang says. "Look at the sky."

Sokka takes a moment to do just that. "I said I was going to do this job. I can't back out just because of some bad weather."

"The boy with the tattoos has some sense," the fisherman's wife says. "You should listen to him!"

"Boy with tattoos?" the fisherman questions, and turns around in one swift move to raise an eyebrow at the boy in question. "Airbender tattoos... Well, I'll be a hog monkey's uncle. You're the Avatar, ain't'cha?"

Ka folds her arms behind her back. "Yes," she replies, and Aang smiles.

"Well, don't be so smiley about it!" Aang's smile falls immediately. "The Avatar disappeared for a hundred years, along with his good-for-nothing Minder!" Ka's eye twitches. "You turned your back on the world!"

"Don't yell at him!" Katara says, taking a step in front of him. "Aang would never turn his back on anyone, and neither would Ka."

Ka leans forward with a dark expression. She can handle people mocking her existence, but the Avatar is the closest person to her, the one she is meant to protect and guide with her life. He was the one who rescued her from a life of constant fear and torment by awakening. His connection to her set her free, even if her very existence, in the first place, was a complete accident.

Her voice comes out almost automatically, "I would choose your next words _very_ carefully."

The fisherman only looks fazed for a moment, but then his attention goes back to Katara, and he disregards Ka entirely.

"Oh, he wouldn't, huh?"

Ka seethes with fury, and it must be evident on her face, because even Katara gives her a startled look.

"Then I guess I just imagined the last hundred years of war and suffering."

At the fisherman's words, Aang's eyes go wide in horror.

"Aang is the _bravest_ person I know!" Katara shouts. "He's done _nothing_ but help people and save lives since I met him!" Unbeknownst to her, Aang is slowly backing away from the commotion, guilt written all over his face. "It's not _his_ fault he disappeared, right, Aang?" Finally turning, she frowns at him questioningly. "Aang, what's wrong?"

The Avatar opens his glider and flies away quickly, disappearing into the distance a moment later.

"That's right!" the fisherman shouts. "Keep flying!"

"You're a horrible old man!" Katara shouts back.

Ka takes a step forward towards the fisherman and gives him her hardest, angriest glare. He even raises his eyebrows at her, and she almost smirks.

"As if the _Minder_ is any better," the man continues, crossing his arms. "You're just a pet to the Avatar, a silly lapdog." When her glare only gets harder, he only goes on. "You could disappear and no one would care."

"Maybe so," she says slowly, keeping her ground, "but you will come to regret every word you have said today. I swear it."

"Keep dreamin', Freaky-Eyes."

"Ka!" comes a shout, and Ka turns to see Katara sitting atop Appa's head. She runs over and vaults herself onto his saddle, and when they take off after Aang, the splash from the water drenches the fisherman.

This time, Ka lets herself smirk.

* * *

"I've never seen you that angry," Katara comments, when the rain rolls in heavy.

Ka shrugs once. "He was insulting Aang."

"He was insulting you, too."

"I can take it," Ka assures. "Surely you must be aware of the stigma towards the Minder."

Katara frowns and worries her bottom lip. "Well, yes, but... you have all the same capabilities of Aang."

"That is just how history works sometimes," Ka murmurs, and looks down at the back of her palms, where the pulsing black tattoos swirl to an end around her fingers. "Without Aang, I would be nothing. It is the Minder's duty to protect their Avatar, and I intend to fulfill that duty."

"At the cost of yourself?"

Ka just looks her dead in the eye, and nods once. "I do not mind the insults." Then she pauses, and raises an eyebrow. "Sometimes."

"Sometimes?" Katara questions.

"Whenever the Fire Nation prince degrades me," Ka explains thoughtfully, "it irritates me to no end." She looks at Katara with a curious gaze. "It makes me want to punch him quite often."

Katara snorts. "I think you've kicked his butt more than a few times."

"And hopefully many times more," Ka muses, and waterbends the rain above her to create a temporary shield for herself to see more clearly.

When they pass a cave in the rock of the cliff, Ka points to it, and they land on the ledge outside of it. Walking inside, Aang is sitting on his legs in the center, back faced to the others.

"I'm sorry for running away," he says quietly.

"It's okay," Katara assures. "That fisherman was way out of line."

"Actually," Aang speaks up, "he wasn't."

Katara blinks. "What do you mean?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Aang says, lowering his head, his voice watery. Ka can feel his sadness radiating through her, and she walks over to sit next to him, putting a hand on top of his own.

"It has to do with your dream, doesn't it?" Katara asks, and puts her hand on his shoulder. "Talk to me."

"Well... it's kind of a long story."

Momo leaps past Aang and lands in his lap. A soaked Appa treads inside the cave, nuzzling against Aang affectionately. The latter smiles and reaches up to pat at him.

"I'm going to try to get a little fire going," Katara says, and does just that.

When they all sit around the fire, Aang takes a few moments to collect his thoughts and calm himself down enough to start his story.

"I'll never forget the day the monks told me I was the Avatar," he says. "I was playing with some other kids just outside the South Wall. I was trying to teach them how to do the air scooter."

His story begins with the monks summoning him to the meeting room, where they break the news to him. He is far too young to know, but the war is coming, and the Avatar is needed to bring balance to the world once more. His story continues with the other kids making him an outsider because of his identity, leaving him alone to train vigorously with the monks. Gyatso is the only one who seems to care about the person inside the identity of the Avatar. Eventually, his story seems to end with the monks discussing where to send him away to complete his training, separating him from the only parental figure he has ever had.

"That's awful, Aang," Katara sympathizes when Aang suddenly stops talking. "I don't know what to say."

Aang shoots to his feet, rushing with anger, and it is so intense Ka finds herself having to force herself to keep sitting lest she mimic his actions.

"How could they do that to me?" he shouts, his voice echoing through the cavern. "They wanted to take away everything I knew and everyone I loved!" His rage is so intense it even activates their shared state for a moment, air spreading all across, and Ka looses control of herself for a moment before it fades. Aang pauses and then goes back to sit down. "I'm sorry I got so mad."

"You have the right to be angry after the monks sent you away like that," Katara says.

"Well," Aang says, "that's not exactly what happened."

His story is not yet over, and the real ending finishes with a terrifying storm and a last-ditch attempt to save the lives of himself and his bison by freezing himself in ice.

"Next thing I knew, I was waking up in your arms after you found me in the iceberg."

"You ran away," Katara realizes.

"And then the Fire Nation attacked our temple," Aang says. "My people needed me and I wasn't there to help."

"You don't know what would have—"

"The _world_ needed me and I wasn't there to help!"

"Aang," Ka says firmly.

"The fisherman was right! I _did_ turn my back on the world!"

"You're being too hard on yourself," Katara says, leaning forward, "even if you did run away. I think it was meant to be. If you had stayed, you would have been killed along with all the other airbenders."

Aang's eyes close. "You don't know that."

"I know it was meant to be this way," Katara assures. "The world needs you now. You give people hope." She smiles at him, and Aang only stares at her in response.

Ka takes a deep breath. "If you had not run away, I would have stayed in the Spirit World," she looks at him firmly, "and I would have never became your Minder."

Aang and Katara blink at her with matching expressions.

"What do you mean?" Katara asks.

Ka folds her hands in her lap. Sooner or later, she knew they would find out that she wasn't the original, and she supposes it is now or never.

"I was born a spirit," she says, "and I have lived as a spirit. Eleven years ago, when I was five years old, I was exploring the swamp lands of the Spirit World when I suddenly came across... a portal." The use of her voice is beginning to strain her, and she clears her throat. "From that portal came a bright orange light. And, being the curious five-year old I was, I touched it."

"Then what happened?" Aang asks.

"I accidentally absorbed the light," Ka says. "And I did not learn until later that the light was the spirit of your Minder."

"What?"

"I am not your original Minder," Ka forces herself to say. "Your original Minder died, and when her spirit had no place to go, it came to the Spirit World, where it was absorbed by me."

"They... they died waiting for me?" Aang asks softly.

"I was mentored by Avatar Roku and Minder Divya in the Spirit World for years until you awakened from the iceberg," Ka continues, "where I was transferred to the physical world and my bending was unlocked." She looks down at her hands and then frowns up at her Avatar. "I am sorry for keeping this from you. I understand if your opinion of me changes after this."

Her voice is very obviously gone by the time she finishes her story, and her throat burns from overuse. She swallows thickly in an attempt to soothe it, but it does not help. She should have known better than to say so much in such a short amount of time.

"Why would it change?" Aang asks, confused. "You're still my Minder."

" _Accidentally,_ " Ka forces out, her voice nothing but a whisper.

"Even if it was an accident," Katara says, "if you hadn't absorbed the Minder's spirit, then that cycle surely would have died out?"

"Most likely," Ka murmurs.

"Then it was meant to be," Katara says. "You both are living miracles. It doesn't matter how you came here or what you did to get here," she smiles at both of them, warm, "what matters is that you're here, now, and you can do everything you can to stop this war."

They do not have the chance to even reply (Ka being doubtful she even could), for a sudden cry for help comes from the entrance of the cave. When they look, they see the fisherman's wife standing there, waving her arms. The rain outside is so heavy Ka can barely see, and lightning strikes the ground seemingly every few moments.

"It's okay," Katara says, taking the woman by the arm and leading her to the fire. "You're safe."

"But my _husband_ isn't!"

"What do you mean? Where's Sokka?"

"They haven't returned!" the woman exclaims. "They should have been back by now! And this storm is becoming a typhoon! They're caught out at sea!"

Aang and Ka seem to rise in unison. "We're going to find him," Aang declares.

"I'm going with you!" Katara says.

"I'm staying here!"

* * *

They leave the woman behind, safe in the cave, and take off on Appa to go find Sokka and the rude fisherman. The journey is a struggle, with the group having the waterbend the rain above them just to get a clear view of where they're going. Once they fly out further into sea, they see the boat dangerously rocking against the rough waters.

Flying closer to the boat, Aang and Ka both jump down onto the deck. As Aang approaches Sokka and the fisherman with a rope, a pole starts to fall down, threatening to crush them. Ka jumps forward and bends four pouts of water out from the bottom of the deck, splitting the pole in two. It lands on the edges, safely away from them.

"Hang onto the rope!" Aang shouts, and they jump back onto Appa.

As Appa flies away, Ka tugs onto the rope to pull the fisherman and Sokka onto the saddle just as the boat flips over and goes under. They smile at each other, but the relief is short-lived, as a giant shadow overwhelms them and reveals itself in the form of a massive wave. Aang does everything he can to lead them away, but the wave crashes into them and sends them deep underwater. It's a harsh similarity to the shared dream, and Ka quickly takes in air just as she goes under. Looking around, the group begins to float away, air bubbles coming from their noses and mouths.

Aang and Ka share one look, and fall into their shared state. Their glowing eyes and tattoos bring a light to the darkness of the sea, and together, the two of them bend the water around them to contain an air bubble that brings everyone back to Appa's saddle. They fly out of the water, and once they are safely in the air, they fall out of their shared state, and into the distance.

(But before they go, Ka notices they break the surface just beside the Fire Nation prince's boat. She and Aang stare at the prince for the moments before he disappears from view.)

* * *

They make it back to the cave in one piece, only partially soaked.

"Oh, you're alive!" the fisherman's wife exclaims, throwing her arms around him. She suddenly shoves him away and jabs her finger into his chest. "You owe these two apologies!"

"He doesn't have to apologize," Aang says, and Ka only crosses her arms.

"What if, instead of an apology, I give 'em a free fish and we call it even?" the fisherman suggests.

"Actually," Aang speaks up, "I don't eat meat."

"Fish ain't meat!"

"Seriously," Sokka says, walking up to the fisherman with an expectant hand out, "you're still gonna pay me, right?"

Suddenly, a fish is dropped into his hand, and he shouts in both surprise and disgust. Aang, Ka, and Katara move to another corner of the cave.

"Katara, I think you were right before," Aang says. "I'm done dwelling on the past."

"Really?"

"I can't make guesses about what would have happened if I hadn't run away. I'm here now and I'm going to make the most of it." Aang turns to Ka and gives her a smile. "We both are. Together."

She nods, giving a little half-smile. "If I had not taken on the role of Minder, I suppose my life would not be as great as this one."

"I don't think you're gonna have those nightmares anymore," Katara says earnestly.

"And if you weren't here now," the fisherman suddenly says, walking up with a thoughtful expression on his face, "well, I guess I wouldn't be either. Thank you for saving my life, Avatar," he pauses and looks over at Ka, "and Minder."

She nods, feeling the tension fall from her shoulders.

(She has never been more determined to prove a society wrong.)

* * *

The effects of the storm are worse for others, and Sokka becomes so ill that they are forced to take shelter in an abandoned shrine built into a mountain. The land around them is littered with ruined buildings.

Sokka lays against Appa in a sleeping bag, drenched in sweat. Katara presses a cold rag against his forehead.

"This should bring your fever down," she says.

"You know what I love about Appa the most?" Sokka asks, his voice delirious and stuffy. "His sense of humor."

"That's nice. I'll tell him."

Appa growls, and Sokka only laughs in response.

"How's Sokka doing?" Aang asks from his place on the floor. He and Ka are inspecting a map.

"Not so good," Katara replies. "Being out in that storm really did a number on him."

As if on cue, Sokka starts sniffling, despite the large amount of snot trailing down his face. Ka grimaces.

"We couldn't find any ginger root for the tea," Aang says, "but we did find a map!" Ka points to an area on the map, near the illustration of a large mountain. "There's an herbalist on top of that mountain. We could probably find a cure for Sokka there."

"Aang, he's in no condition to travel," Katara says. "Sokka just needs more rest. I'm sure he'll be better by tomorrow." Her voice becomes strained at the end, and she coughs into her fist.

"Not you too!"

"Relax, it was just a little cough. I'm fi—" Katara breaks into a rougher coughing fit, choking over her own breath, and groans once it's over with.

"That's how Sokka started yesterday!" Aang breaks in, shielding his face with his arms. "Now look at him! He thinks he's an earthbender!"

"Take that, you rock!"

"A few more hours and you'll be talking nonsense too," Aang explains, and rises to his feet. "I'm going to go find some medicine."

"I'm going with you," Ka says, following him.

Aang takes his glider and moves to the edge of the shrine, but pauses when he sees a flash of lightning strike the forest. He frowns, and sets his glider back against the wall. "Maybe it's safer if we go on foot."

"As if I can keep up with you," Ka says, putting her hands on her hips.

"I'll carry you!" Aang says, grinning widely. Ka just rolls her eyes and allows Aang to pull her onto his back. He turns to Appa and Momo for a moment, "Keep an eye on them guys!"

Sokka spews more nonsense when the animals in question growl and chitter respectively, and then Aang takes off, airbending across his feet to make him run faster and practically disappear.

"You need to teach me airbending sometime so I can run like this!" Ka says as loud as she can manage over the roar of wind in her ears.

Aang laughs, bright and happy. "That'll be our next adventure!"

* * *

"We haven't been able to pick up the Avatar and his Minder's trails since the storm, but if we continue heading northeast—"

Interrupting Jee's words is the shadow from a much larger Fire Nation ship. Zuko whirls around angrily, clenching his fists.

"What do they want?"

"Perhaps, a sporting game of Pai Sho!" his uncle says hopefully.

Soon, a soldier from the other ship walks into the helm of the ship, and holds out a wanted poster before them. On it depicts the Avatar, with his signature arrow on his forehead. Beside him is an illustration of the Minder, and it looks very similar to how she actually appears, except the poster is missing her black tattoos and her violet eyes are instead shaded black.

"The hunt for the Avatar and his Minder have been given prime importance," the soldier explains. "All information regarding the Avatar and his Minder _must_ be reported directly to Admiral Zhao."

"Zhao has been promoted?" is all Iroh gets from this, _of course._ "Well, good for him!"

Zuko grits his teeth and looks down, trying not to let his frustration show on his face too much (he's sure he's failing). "I've got nothing to report to Admiral Zhao," he spits the name with obvious venom. "Now get of my ship and let us pass."

"Admiral Zhao is not allowing ships in or out of this area."

" _Off my ship!_ "

As his uncle focuses more on his Pai Sho game, Zuko turns to the window of the helm with a grim expression.

"I thought the Minder had weird violet eyes," he hears one of his uncle's opponents whisper, and turns his head slightly. "The poster got _that_ all wrong."

"Probably because the Minder's less important," whispers another. "Hey, at least she's got a _bangin'_ body—"

He doesn't get the chance to finish his sentence, because Zuko's rage boils over to the point where he sends a quick, warning blast of fire over the whisperer's head. He cowers and covers his head in fear, allowing his uncle to make a quick move without him looking.

" _Not another word,_ " Zuko hisses, and stalks off.

Iroh smiles as he leaves, and turns to the whispering men. "It's disrespectful to speak of a lady that way," he simply says, and Jee has to muffle his laughter.

* * *

As they make it up the mountain, Ka is breathless and her hair is all a mess from being blown around by wind. They rush in, and as Aang is spewing orders at the herbalist, Ka takes the chance to take a deep breath and pull her hair up out of her face. She notices a white cat mewing from her place on the table.

"Wounded Earth Kingdom troops still come by now and again," the herbalist says when Ka starts paying attention to the conversation, and she notices with disdain that their hair colors are the same, "brave boys, and thanks to my remedies they always leave in better shape than when they arrived."

"That's nice," Aang deadpans, and points to the bowl she mixes. "Are you almost done?"

"Hold on, I just need to add one last ingredient!" the herbalist says, putting her finger up in the air and walking over towards her large collection of plants. "Oh, sandalwood..." she begins, muttering to herself thoughtfully, "oh, that won't do, banana leaf? Ah, nope! Ginger root, uh-uh, oh, where is that pesky little plant?"

From beside her, Aang groans dramatically and drags a hand down his face.

"Patience is a virtue," Ka comments.

Aang only stares at her.

* * *

"Is everything okay?" His uncle's voice interrupts his firebending practice (which is, in all honesty, just a way for him to vent his frustrations without hurting anyone). "It's been almost an hour and you haven't given the men an order."

Zuko grits his teeth, his face red with anger. "I don't care what they do!"

"Don't give up hope yet," Iroh continues, reading him as he always, so easily, does. It frightens and annoys Zuko at the same time. "You can still find the Avatar and the Minder before Zhao."

He whirls around, unable to mask the obvious trepidation in both his voice and on his face. " _How,_ Uncle?" he asks breathlessly, clenching his fists. "With Zhao's resources, it's just a matter of time before he captures the Avatar and his Minder."

Despair takes over him, and the only thought in his mind is _I've lost. I've lost and Zhao's won and I'll never be able to go home._

He swallows. "My honor, my throne, my country, I'm about to lose them _all._ "

* * *

"Ah! Plum blossom!"

Aang, who had since moved over to lay his head on the table, suddenly perks up with an exclamation of _Finally!_ When the herbalist drops the flower into the bowl, Aang moves to snatch it, "Thanks for all your help!"

The herbalist gasps and smacks his hands with her spoon. "Hey! Hands off!"

"Ow!"

"What do you think you're doing!?" the herbalist demands.

Aang pauses before rubbing his hands. "Taking the cure to our friends!"

The herbalist blinks at him before laughing. "This isn't a cure!" she says, setting the bowl down in front of the cat and stroking her fur. "It's Miyuki's dinner. Plum blossom is her favorite."

Aang looks ready to explode. "What about our friends?"

"Well," the herbalist says, waving her hand dismissively as if the answer was obvious all along, "all they need are some frozen wood frogs. There's plenty down in the valley swamp."

"Frozen frogs?" Ka repeats, furrowing her eyebrows.

"What are we supposed to do with those?" Aang asks.

"Why, suck on them, of course!"

Ka's eyes nearly bug out of her head. Aang's own eyes twitch in disgust. " _Suck_ on them?" they ask in unison.

"The frog skin excretes a substance that will cure your friends," the herbalist says, not even batting an eye. "Be sure to get plenty because once those little critters thaw out, they're useless!"

A moment passes.

"You're insane, aren't you?" Aang deadpans.

The herbalist giggles. "That's right!" When another moment passes, she looks back at the two and waves her spoon in their direction. "Well, don't just stand there all day! Go!"

When they leave, they notice that the approaching storm has only got worse. Rain pours over them, and Ka frowns when her hair starts falling in her face. All of a sudden, a flourish of arrows come out of nowhere and pin Aang's pants and Ka's boots to the ground. She stares at them for a moment before reaching out and pulling them, while Aang airbends a shield around them to protect them.

He reaches down and picks one up, holding it up towards the area the arrows came from. "Uh... I think you dropped this!"

Their attackers only reply by aiming their arrows at them. Aang's eyes widen and he quickly removes his arrows in a panic. Grabbing Ka's arm, she gasps when he starts running at a faster pace than she can handle, and the two of them eventually stumble down a cliff into a swamp. Ka frowns at the familiar taste that fills her mouth when she lands into the water. Her eyes catch one of the frozen frogs the herbalist had mentioned, and she tugs on Aang's shirt.

"The frogs," she informs, and Aang lights up in realization.

They move quickly—Aang shoving about five frogs into his shirt while Ka only manages to snatch up two—and just as Ka goes for another one, an arrow pins her sleeve into a rock, along with the side of Aang's shirt. When more arrows approach them, Ka throws her arm up and waterbends a wall of ice in front of them. Arrows strike the wall one by one, landing inside of each other until the ice cracks before them. There's no time to defend themselves from the other arrows, and eventually the two of them are completely pinned.

A net is thrown over them, and they are taken away.

* * *

They are both bound at their arms and legs with chains, rendering them immobile and pinning them to large poles with bowls of fire at the top. Aang faces the door while Ka faces the other side of the room, and she can barely turn her head around to look when she hears the telltale metal scraping of the door.

"So these are the _great_ Avatar and Minder," comes the voice of their captor, Admiral Zhao, an awful-looking man with a big superiority complex, "masters of all the elements." He walks up to Aang, giving him a smirk. "I don't know how you've managed to elude the Fire Nation for a hundred years, but your little game of hide and seek is over." It's obvious his words are directed at Aang more than Ka, and the reminder that the Fire Nation finds her useless burns her with rage.

"We've never hidden from you!" Aang yells. "Untie us and we'll fight you right now!"

"Uh, no." Zhao walks even closer to Aang, until he's leaning into him with a grin. "Tell me, how does it feel to be the only airbender left? Do you miss your people?"

Aang doesn't reply, and his anger is washed away by sadness. When he looks down, Zhao gives a little snort.

"Don't worry, you won't be killed like they were."

That sentence alone sends Aang's blood boiling, and he struggles against the chains once more.

"See, if you die, you will just be reborn and the Fire Nation would have to start searching all over again. So I'll keep you alive," Zhao explains, starting to circle around the two of the, until he stands in front of Ka, "but _just_ barely."

Ka wants nothing more than to spit in his face, take him off-guard, but she settles for keeping her expression neutral—because, she figures, if it was enough to make the prince angry then surely it would work on another thick-headed Fire Nation man.

"Now, _you,_ " Zhao says, lifting his hands as if he were going to grab her. "Obviously just the Avatar's lapdog, but intriguing all the same." He waits for a reaction, but she doesn't give him any. Then he really does grab her, his hands gripping at her hair and yanking her head forward. "No one knows where _you_ came from, and how the Fire Nation eluded you for years will always be a mystery. With how freaky you look."

"Leave her alone!" Aang shouts, but his efforts go ignored, and Zhao just grins.

"I have a few ideas in mind of how to keep you under my control," he says, his voice low. One of his hands leaves her hair and traces down her face, his thumb stroking her cheek. She locks her jaw in disgust. "You have such strange features; you'd be a _beautiful_ prize. For either me," he pauses as if in thought, "or for our Fire Lord."

She disregards all attempts to remain expressionless and bashes her forehead into his, sending him flying back in shock. He reels backwards, and when he realizes just what she's done, the admiral lifts his hand and strikes her across the face, _hard._

Ka swallows, clenching her fists and keeping her head down off to the side.

Zhao sighs. "Don't worry, I'll show you how to obey me soon enough." When he starts walking back towards the door, Ka hears Aang inhale deeply, and she turns her head enough to see him blow a strong wind in Zhao's direction, causing him to slam into the wall and fall on the ground. He grits his teeth, and makes his way to his feet. "Blow all the wind you want! But your situation is futile." He gives them a warning glare. "There is no escaping this fortress, and _no one_ is coming to rescue you."

He then leaves, leaving the two of them alone.

A few beats of silence pass before Aang speaks up, "Are you okay?"

"Fine."

"It sounded like it hurt."

"It did."

"Did he touch you?"

Ka pauses. "Just my face." She feels Aang's anger course through her and sighs. "Aang, do not worry about me."

"Stop saying that!" Aang shouts suddenly, startling her. "Of _course_ I'm going to worry about you! You're my Minder!"

Ka tries to look back at him, but she just settles back into silence, and looks down at the ground.

* * *

She isn't aware of how much time passes between Zhao leaving and now, but eventually she is snapped out of her disoriented state when Aang suddenly starts straining against the chains, even harder, as if he could suddenly be strong enough to rip the chains from the pillars themselves. When his efforts prove useless, he groans and looks back at the ground.

Ka gasps when she feels something moving around her shirt, all the way down to her legs, and looks down to see half-thawed frogs clambering out from underneath her pants.

"What?" Aang gasps when she hears croaks coming from his shirt. "No! Don't leave, frogs! My friends are sick and they need you! Please go back to being frozen!"

"I am not sure they will listen to you," Ka mutters.

She lifts her head up, straightening her back, and yanks against the chains with all her might. When Zhao had slapped her it felt like all the motivation was kicked from her body, but she refuses to let herself become a toy for anyone. She feels Aang do the same, but she stops in her tracks when she hears banging and yelling coming from outside the door. Aang and Ka look at each other, once, and then back towards the door. Turning her head so much strains her neck and her eyes, but when she hears the lock turning in the door and sees it open, all thoughts of her pain are thrown away.

A figure with a blue oni mask enters, and Ka almost chokes on her own spit.

The figure brandishes two duel blades, and starts charging at them at full speed. Aang screams, but the figure only slices through the chains at his feet and hands with impressive precision. He cuts the remaining bonds, and then moves to free Ka. She stares at the figure with wide, confused, and fearful eyes. When she can finally move her body again, she rubs her hands over her freed wrists and feels eyes on her. Behind the mask, the figure is staring at her, and she turns her face away with a frown.

(Ka can barely stand to look at him. Her father used the face of a blue oni so many times when angered, when trying to get her to give him any kind of expression. It looked too similar.)

The Blue Spirit looks away and starts walking back towards the door.

"Who are you?" Ka finds herself demanding, walking around the pillars and standing beside Aang.

"What's going on?" Aang asks. "Are you here to rescue us?"

Their savior does not reply, but only opens the metal door and motions for them to follow with his sword.

Aang shrugs and looks at Ka. "I'll take that as a yes."

They walk out, and Ka notices gagged and bound guards at the door of the chamber. She looks at the Blue Spirit again, and furrows her eyebrows. Aang stops in his tracks in front of her, breaking her train of thought, and she slams into his back with a gasp. Aang reels backwards and reaches for the missing frogs, only half-frozen and struggling to get away.

"My frogs!" he exclaims. "Come back! And stop thawing out!" Noticing their absence, the Blue Spirit impersonator returns and grabs Aang by the collar of his shirt, pulling him away with surprising strength. Ka only follows. "Wait! Our friends need to suck on those frogs!"

Their savior sneaks them through the sewer system underneath the fortress, out of a grate, and over to the innermost wall. A rope is thrown over, and the Blue Spirit starts to climb, Aang and Ka on his trail.

"There, on the wall!"

A soldier above them, on top of the wall, reaches down and slices the rope. Before they can slam onto the ground, Aang airbends them just before they land so they can land safely on their feet. Their savior unleashes his swords and they run off, guards hot on their trail.

"The Avatar and his Minder have escaped!" comes Zhao's voice overhead. "Close all the gates immediately!"

Aang speeds up his running and passes the Blue Spirit. "Stay close to me!"

The third gate is closing before them, as are the two beyond it. Countless soldiers surround them, and Aang airbends a blast of air strong enough to send them flying. He and Ka move to get to the gate, but notice that the Blue Spirit is still behind them, fending off the leftover soldiers and quickly becoming overpowered. Aang grabs a spear from the guard near him and kicks the spear from it to make it a pole, and runs back towards their savior.

Behind them, the gate closes.

Ka uncaps her skin of water and sweeps half of the guards off their feet, pushing them back as far as she can manage before bringing the water back into her hands. The other half of the guards are airbended away. Aang quickly catapults the Blue Spirit to the top of the third wall, and grabs Ka before airbending himself onto it. The Blue Spirit becomes surrounded on the wall, but Aang wraps his legs around him to lift him up. The weight is far too much for him to get very far, and they barely make it to the next wall.

On the next wall, they are attacked by more soldiers, but manage to fend them off. When they look over, ladders are being pushed up against the wall and more soldiers are climbing up to fight them. When they reach the top, Ka and the Blue Spirit knock them off together, while Aang goes to the ladders and sends mighty blasts down them, knocking the soldiers off quickly. He picks up a few of the ladders and tells the others to jump on him when he uses them as stilts.

Ka isn't sure how three people manage to fit on flimsy little ladders, but it works, until a soldier sets one of the ladders on fire. They are forced to jump off, and their fingers only just brush the edge of the wall before they tumble down to the ground.

Firebenders surround them, and Ka holds out a stream of water in front of her in a prepared defense. When their flame unleashes, Aang shoves both of them to the side and airbends the flames away.

"Hold your fire! The Avatar and the Minder must be captured alive!"

At Zhao's words, the Blue Spirit instantly comes up behind the two of them and crosses one of his swords across each of their throats. Ka is so surprised that the water falls from her hands and puddles around her feet, and she shares a side-glance with Aang.

There is a pause as Zhao and the Blue Spirit seemingly stare at each other.

Then, "Open the gate."

"Admiral, what are you doing?"

"Let them out," Zhao orders, "now!"

The gate is opened a moment later and the Blue Spirit backs them out, farther and farther out into the darkness, away from the fortress. He looks over his shoulder to make sure there is nothing behind him that could hinder their escape. The blade threatens to cut into Ka's skin lest it get any closer, and she feels her breath catch in her throat.

When she looks back up to the fortress, she sees an arrow heading straight for them.

It hits the Blue Spirit's mask, sending him collapsing backwards and knocking him out instantly. His blades fall from their necks, and the two of them turn in horror. Aang bends down and bends a huge cloud of dust around the three of them, temporarily shielding them from the view of the fortress.

Ka hears the main gate open and the rush of soldiers coming after them. She and Aang kneel down beside the fallen Blue Spirit, and she leans forward to pull the mask off his face. What meets her is the face of Prince Zuko, and she very nearly falls backwards in surprise. Aang and Ka get up to run away, but immediately stop in their tracks when they see the soldiers getting closer and closer.

Ka looks at Aang, and knows they are both thinking the same thing.

* * *

The prince does not awaken until the sun rises again, and even then he still looks dazed and confused. Ka had placed his mask and swords near where they had rested his body.

"You know what the worst part of being born over a hundred years ago is?" Aang asks when he notices the prince staring at them. "I miss all the friends I used to hang out with. Before the war started, I used to always visit my friend Kuzon." He looks off to the side with a smile. "The two of us, we'd get in and out of so much trouble together. He was one of the best friend I ever had, and he was from the Fire Nation," Aang turns his head to meet the prince's eyes, "just like you. If we knew each other back then, do you think we could have been friends, too?"

Aang smiles hopefully, and Ka waits for some kind of reply. She sees his gaze fall to her for a moment before he is jumping up, letting loose a fierce fireball at them. Aang jumps and pulls Ka up with him, before hopping from branch to branch in a quick escape attempt.

She cannot help but feel a little disappointed.

* * *

Before they return to their friends, they go back to the swamp to collect more frogs, and the entire trip is completely silent.

They come back, and Aang and Ka shove the frogs into their friends' mouths.

"Suck on these," Ka says, her voice deadpanned.

"They'll make you feel better," Aang explains, his voice very obviously downcast.

They move to Appa's tail, where they lie down next to each other with matching sighs. Sokka looks over at them, one of the frogs sticking out of his mouth.

"Aang, Ka, how was your trip?" he asks, voice half-muffled and hardly understandable. "Did you make any new friends?"

A beat of silence passes, and then Aang rolls over, and replies, "No, I don't think we did."

* * *

"Airbending is all about defense and following the path of least resistance," Aang explains, as Ka stares at him blankly. "Airbenders move like the wind, so you have to be evasive and light on your feet."

They sit cross-legged, in front of one another, and Aang moves his hands to demonstrate the proper way to meditate.

"Meditation helps you get into a good mindset to airbend," Aang continues, and smiles at her. "Have you ever tried any airbending moves before?"

For a moment, Ka forgets he is talking to her and she blinks several times before nodding. "Divya taught me some techniques," she says. "I was never able to put them to use."

Aang nods thoughtfully. "Well, how about we try meditating for a bit and then you can show me what you know?"

Ka nods back, and takes a deep breath. She sees Aang close his eyes, and his face becomes more serious than Ka's ever seen. She follows his example, recalling the way Divya used to meditate with her when she was younger.

After a while, she feels herself beginning to revert to a relaxed state, almost unaware of her own actions and everything going on around her. When she breathes, she feels like the air is flowing through her entire body, from her fingertips down to the very tips of her toes.

When she opens her eyes, there is nothing but empty blackness. She sits in her meditation form for a few moments, before looking from side to side and behind her.

Behind her is what looks like a mirror, and the person in it copies every move she makes, but it is almost... not her.

Ka climbs to her feet, and the person in the mirror follows. She walks up to it, until she is standing close and can observe every detail of the person's face and body.

It is her, and yet it is not. The person in the mirror is shorter than her, but not by much. Their hair settles around their shoulders in light curls, wholly brunette but with thick white streaks throughout; it stops near the top of their head to allow an arrow to run down the length of their forehead. Their arms are decorated in tattoos, similar to Ka's but not quite the same—they are more rigid and straight rather than Ka's flowing, swirly ones. Their skin is sun-kissed and dark, but with small, paler patches across their body. Their top seems to be distinctively Air Nomad, but their pants, boots, and gloves match Ka's perfectly.

Their most distinctive feature is the fact that their eyes and tattoos are glowing.

She knows this person. She can feel in deep inside herself.

She is this person.

Ka reaches out towards the reflection, the person in the mirror mimicking her movements. When she gently touches it with her middle finger, the person suddenly vanishes, and is instead replaced by a familiar face.

Aang.

Then the mirror and the darkness are gone, and Ka is staring into the eyes of Aang, wide and confused and terrified all at the same time.

"Did we—"

"—have the—"

"—same vision?" they finish in unison. The Water Tribe siblings give them odd looks, and Momo chitters in the distance.

"That was us, wasn't it?" Aang asks, and all Ka can do is nod slowly. "It was like Avatar Roku and his Minder at the temple. We can do that?"

"I assume so," she murmurs softly.

A beat of silence passes between them.

"Um," Aang says, not sure how to proceed with the conversation, "let's try some airbending moves."

Ka nods, thankful for the change in topic. She isn't sure how to go about the fact that she and Aang can most likely fuse together.

* * *

(By the end of the day, Ka knows the basics, and she can finally keep up with Aang when he's running.)

(She's tempted to race him.)

(She loses.)

* * *

After encountering an odd traveler being attacked by a platypus bear, the group's next crazy journey takes them to a village near a volcano, where a fortuneteller seemingly worshiped by the town lives.

"Aunt Wu is expecting you," says a man standing in front of the door when they arrive. He also has white hair, and she tilts her head at him in confusion—she cannot tell how old he is.

"Really?" Katara asks excitedly, having been a believer of the fortunetelling since the beginning. Sokka just rolls his eyes, disgusted and annoyed by the whole ordeal.

They walk inside, only to find there's only three pillows situated on the right side of the floor. Ka clicks her tongue, and ends up sharing one with Aang in the center.

A young girl in a pink robe walks in, and Ka stares at her hair for longer than she deems polite.

"My name is Meng," the girl says, lowering her head in greeting, "and I'm Aunt Wu's assistant."

When she lifts her head, her eyes widen, and Ka notices the way she eyes Aang up and down as if he were something to _eat._ She puts a hand over her mouth.

"Well, hello there," Meng drawls, obviously pleased by what she sees.

Aang only rubs at his nose and sniffs. "Hello."

"Can I get you some tea or some of Aunt Wu's special bean curd puffs?" Meng asks, but it's obvious her question is directed at Aang more than anyone else.

"I'll try a curd puff," Sokka says, oblivious.

Meng shoves her hand in his face. "Just a second." Leaning over, she looks at Aang with a smile. "So what's _your_ name?"

"Aang," he replies flatly. He almost sounds like Ka for a moment, and she has to look away lest she start _laughing,_ of all things.

"That rhymes with _Meng!_ " she says delightedly. "And you've got some pretty big ears, don't you?"

Aang pauses, and looks side to side. "I... guess."

Sokka waves his hand and laughs, "Don't be modest, they're _huge!_ "

Aang covers up his ears in response, turning to glare at Sokka, while Ka takes the moment to lean back and observe his ears for herself. Meng starts to walk away, turning back for a moment.

"Well, Aang, it was very nice to meet you." She lowers her head. " _Very_ nice."

"Likewise," Aang says politely once she is out of sight.

Sokka leans back lazily, wiggling his toes. "I can't believe we're here in the house of nonsense."

"We get up to a lot of nonsense, do we not?" Ka asks, and Sokka just shrugs.

"Try to keep an open mind, Sokka," Katara sighs. "There are things in this world that just can't be explained! Wouldn't it be nice to have some insight into your future?"

"It would be nice to have some bean curd puffs."

Meng suddenly comes back, carrying a tray of what seems to be, in fact, bean curd puffs. She bites her lip as she approaches, moving directly towards Aang. She suddenly trips, and Aang catches her by grabbing the tray, his hands falling on top of hers. They stare at the tray and then back up at one another, and Meng blushes.

"Enjoy your snack!" she says quickly, shoving the tray in his arms and leaving as quickly as she came.

Ka blinks at her disappearance and leans back when Sokka's arms suddenly reach across her to snatch the tray from Aang's grasp. She looks up when an elderly woman in a glamorous yellow robe walks in, smiling at them.

"Welcome, young travelers," she says, and Ka assumes this to be Aunt Wu. "I apologize for the lack of pillows. Now, who's next? Don't be shy."

There's only silence in return, and everyone looks over at Katara, for she had been the one so adamant about coming in the first place.

She rises excitedly. "I guess that's me!"

When she leaves, Aang moves to the pillow she just left behind, and Ka stretches her arms above her head, feeling her back crack when she does.

"Mm, not bad, not bad!" Sokka says, his mouth full. He holds the puffs out to Ka. "Mhm?"

She shakes her head, and Sokka shrugs before continuing to shove the puffs in his mouth one after the other.

Aang taps his legs and tilts his head, leaning to the side. "So..." he starts, scratching the back of his neck casually, "what do you think they're talking about back there?"

"Boring stuff, I'm sure," Sokka replies. "Love, who she's gonna marry, how many babies she's gonna have."

Aang's eyes go wide. "Yeah, dumb stuff like that..." he says tensely and bites at his nails nervously. He suddenly jumps his feet, "Well, I've got to find a bathroom."

He disappears, and Ka rolls her eyes. She figures he's most likely going to listen in on Katara's fortune, as if someone telling you your future really even mattered.

"Please tell me you aren't buying into this whole fortunetelling nonsense," Sokka suddenly says, lying down and looking up at her.

Ka blinks once and then looks off to the side in thought. "I think it is interesting," she replies honestly, "but I believe your future is one you determine for yourself."

Sokka sighs and lays back down. "Somehow I knew you were going to say something like that."

Aang comes back looking pleased, which probably means he overheard something in his favor. When Katara comes back, it is eventually his turn to go, leaving Ka, Katara, and Sokka alone in the room.

"I wonder what yours will be like, Ka," Katara says thoughtfully.

"Does not matter," Ka replies, and when she gives her a weird look, she brushes her hair behind her back. "Your destiny is something only you can make, not what someone paints out for you."

Katara purses her lips. "Wow. You're so insightful."

Aang comes back looking excited, and Ka can only wonder what Aunt Wu told him to make him look like that. Eventually comes her turn, and she is almost reluctant to walk into the room she is led into.

Aunt Wu sits on one side while she sits on the other. There is a small fire in the center, and Aunt Wu instructs her to take a bone from the jug and toss it in the fire. Ka observes each bone and takes the one that looks the most deformed than the others, and tosses it right in the middle.

Immediately, a large crack splinters down the side, followed by a few smaller ones. Eventually, the bone explodes, and Aunt Wu gasps.

"You seem to have a similar destiny to the boy who came here before!" she exclaims. "A great battle that will determine the fate of the whole world!"

She blinks. "Well, yes. Is that all you saw?"

Aunt Wu seems to think for a moment. "The crack for that was so large I didn't have the chance to read much else." She motions for Ka to come closer. "Give me your palm, child." When she does, Ka almost flinches at the light touch against the lines of her palm. Aunt Wu's long nails trace her hand, and she lifts her finger suddenly with a curious look.

"You have been through much," she starts, and Ka frowns, "and will go through much more, but in the end, it will all be worth it."

Ka raises her eyebrow.

"It also seems there's a strong romance in store for you."

 _That_ is what makes her startle. "Huh?"

"An exciting hurricane of love!" Aunt Wu says rather dramatically, but to Ka the term _hurricane of love_ only makes her wary. "Passionate and strong! This romance will not only change you, but everyone around you."

She blinks. "Change me," she deadpans.

That's it for her predication, apparently, and frankly, she is rather disappointed. She doesn't want whoever she is supposed to fall in love with to change her. Or for her to have to change for them. Shouldn't people fall in love for _who_ the other is? Or will the romance _itself_ change her?

(And changing everyone around her does not sound all too pleasant either. Ka has never even experienced love before—a hug, a kiss, a date, _nothing._ The Spirit World doesn't give many options for lovers, especially when your father is the Face Stealer.)

* * *

Ever since the predictions, odd things have been happening around the group. Aang has been more focused on Katara than before, while the young Meng is completely ignored despite her advances. Sokka continues to try and prove the villagers wrong in defiance of Aunt Wu.

And a girl follows Ka around everywhere she goes.

Ka is stopped at one of the flower shops, observing the colors and types they have, not intending to buy anything. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the girl who has been following her approach, and stand next to her with almost a shy look.

"Beautiful flowers," she says softly.

Ka turns her head to look at her, and the girl in turn looks back. She has a soft look to her—dressed in a pale green robe and her dark hair tied in a bun in the back of her head. The loose strands of hair frame her face enough to show off just how green her eyes are.

"Yes," Ka replies when she realizes she has been staring, and looks back at the selection of blue ones. "Very."

The girl chuckles under her breath. "I'm Ela."

"My name is Ka," she replies.

"Well, _Ka,_ " Ela says, and reaches over to drop a coin in the flower merchant's hand. She plucks one of the blue flowers from where it sits and reaches out to brush aside Ka's hair. Ela tucks it behind her ear, and places the blue flower in her hair, nice and snug. "It's _very_ nice to meet you. I hope you enjoy your stay in our little village."

She smiles once more before walking away, and Ka finds herself staring after her with wide, confused eyes. She reaches up to brush her fingers against the flower in her hair once more, and then notices Katara giggling behind her.

"Didn't you get a prediction on romance?" Katara asks, crossing her arms knowingly.

"Yes," Ka replies, tilting her head, "but I do not know why it is relevant." Katara just laughs harder.

* * *

She encounters Ela a number of times before the whole volcano fiasco begins.

She and Ela end up talking more when they encounter one another, and Ka learns that Ela is from a small family, is a budding earthbender, and has always wanted to be a painter.

Ka, in return, tells Ela that she is the Minder, and she is quite new to the whole world-traveling thing. Ela tells Ka that she is the most beautiful person she has ever seen, and Ka's face feels even warmer than ever before—it confuses her.

The last time Ka sees Ela before the volcano threatens to destroy her village she kisses her cheek quick and disappears even quicker.

Her face is still flushed an embarrassed pink when they bend the clouds to mimic the symbol for volcanic doom and order the villagers to prepare themselves for the eruption.

Eventually, when the trenches are made, the villagers evacuate and leave the group alone to watch the volcano erupt.

The lava burns the village gate when it comes flowing through into the trench. It fills so rapidly that Ka finds herself burning with anticipation.

"It's too much!" Katara shouts in a panic. "It's gonna overflow!"

More explosions shake the ground, and as Katara and Sokka run for safety, Aang and Ka stay and look at each other. Ka manages to use the airbending she knows to aid Aang in stopping the volcano. They blow the lava up into a wall before it can spill over the trench, and expel giant breaths of air at the same time, cooling the lava to stone to make almost a protective covering over the village.

Later, when it is deemed safe for the villagers to return, they all gather around the town square where Aunt Wu's book is returned to her.

"Can I ask you something?" Aang says when Katara and Sokka are out of earshot.

"Of course, honey," Aunt Wu replies.

"You didn't really see love in my fortune, did you?" Aang asks, sounding disappointed. "You just told me what I wanted to hear."

"I'l tell you a little secret, young airbender," Aunt Wu says, leaning in and gesturing to the sky. "Just as you reshaped those clouds, you have the power to shape your own destiny." She laughs and waves a finger in Ka's direction. "Just like your white-haired friend here has been saying all along."

Ka just shrugs, and Aang smiles at her.

When they prepare to leave, Ela stops Ka just as she is about to climb onto Appa's saddle.

"I haven't known you long," Ela says quickly, blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes, "and I doubt you're going to come back here anytime soon, so I apologize for my actions in advance."

"Wha—" She doesn't have the chance to say anything because Ela grabs her face and kisses her, sweet and chaste, right on the lips.

When she pulls away, Ela smiles. "Good luck on your journey, Minder Ka."

Ka is so taken aback she doesn't know what to say, and Aang ends up having to yank up her surprised form onto the saddle.

* * *

Whatever just happened does not sink into her until they are miles away from the village.

"Was that your first kiss, Ka?" Katara asks curiously.

Ka blinks once, twice, and then her face goes hot.

"I've never seen you so flustered!" Katara giggles, covering her mouth with her hands.

"I am not." She pauses. "Flustered."

"I can feel it from here," Aang says offhandedly from his place on Appa's head. Ka just glares at the back of his.

"Maybe once you save the world you can sweep that girl off her feet again," Sokka says, leaning his head back, not even paying attention to most of the conversation.

Ka just sighs. "I hate all of you."

* * *

 **lolol a little ka action there, no? yes. it happened.**

 **i added zuko's pov to make the chapter longer, to be honest, but also because he's becoming a more important part of ka's story!**

 **i hope you all enjoyed this chapter. next up we have: bato of the water tribe, the deserter, the northern air temple, and _maybe_ the waterbending master. we're nearing the end of season one, folks.**

 **(edit: hey, geniuses. there's a thing called being bisexual, and the description of this fic quite literally says "zuko x oc". so calm down. find a new story to read if you're just gonna bitch at me for making a girl kiss another girl. sincerely, a lesbian.)  
**


	7. season one: episodes 15-18

**i'm glad people are enjoying this story. letting me know really inspires me to write and update quicker.**

* * *

After discovering what appeared to be the remains of a battle between the Water Tribe and Fire Nation soldiers, tracing the tracks lead them to a roughed-up Water Tribe ship sitting idly on the shore, behind some large rocks. The siblings determine it is a boat from their tribe, and they end up making camp beside it for the night.

Ka is awakened by Sokka's sudden exclamation, and she sits up groggily and rubs at her eyes.

"Who the what now?" she hears Aang ask, and blinks a few times to see a man standing there with a large, surprised smile on his face.

"Bato!" Katara shouts excitedly, answering their unasked question. She and Sokka run up to him, burying themselves in his arms.

"Sokka! Katara!" the man called Bato exclaims, hugging them tightly. "It is _so_ good to see you two. You've grown up so much!"

Aang looks at Ka with a confused expression before walking up behind them. He bows, "Hi, I'm Aang."

"Where's Dad?"

"Is he here?"

All of Aang's attempts at conversation go ignored, and Ka sees him frown in response.

"No," Bato replies, "he and the other warriors should be in the eastern Earth Kingdom by now." At his words, Sokka and Katara visibly deflate. A gust of wind suddenly blows through, and they all shiver. Bato wraps his arms around the two siblings and starts to lead them away, "This is no place for a reunion. Let's get inside." As he walks away, he turns at the last moment and gestures for the other two to follow.

* * *

Bato leads them to a wide, open courtyard in the center of an abbey. A few nuns mill about, most of them most likely asleep.

"After I was wounded," Bato starts, "your father carried me to this abbey. The sisters have cared for me ever since." He calls to a tall woman speaking to another nun. "Superior, these are Hakoda's children," he says, and gestures to Aang and Ka. "They've been traveling with the Avatar and his Minder. I found them by my boat."

Mother Superior bows in response. "Young Avatar and Minder, it gives me great joy to be in your presence. Welcome to our abbey."

Aang and Ka bow back. "Thank you," Aang says, "it's truly an honor to be here. If there's anything—"

"What smells so good, Bato?" Sokka asks, cutting them off entirely. Ka frowns.

"The sisters craft ointments and perfumes," Bato explains, sniffing the air.

"Perfume? " Sokka questions, and then points his fingers towards Appa. "Maybe we can dump some on Appa, because... he stinks so much." He waves his hands in front of his face with a grin. "Am I right?"

Silence. Someone coughs in the distance.

Bato blinks. "You have your father's wit."

* * *

The hut Bato stays in has been fashioned to look just like a home in the Southern Water Tribe. Ka vaguely recognizes a few pieces from the short amount of time she spent in one of the huts.

"No way! Stewed sea prunes!" she hears Katara exclaim when the latter opens the lid to a pot cooking over the fire.

"Help yourself!" Bato says.

"Dad could eat a whole _barrel_ of these things!"

Aang takes two bowls of sea prunes and hands one to Ka. He sniffs it once, but then grimaces and quickly sets it off to the side. Ka does the same, and wrinkles her nose. She is not one to judge, but the smell is horrid.

"Bato, is it true that you and Dad lassoed an arctic hippo?" Katara says.

"It was your father's idea, he just dragged _me_ along," Bato says, laughing. "Well, the hippo did the dragging!"

"Hey, I ride animals, too!" Aang speaks up, and gestures his arm in the air. "There was this one time when Ka and I rode a _giant_ eel and we—"

"So, who was it that came up with the Great Blubber Fiasco?"

It is only then when Ka realizes _just_ how unimportant they are at this exact moment. Sokka and Katara are completely focused on Bato, their homesickness getting the better of them. She does not exactly _blame_ them—she is sure they must miss the South Pole and their family—but Aang's frustration and annoyance is radiating off of him, and she can feel its effects on herself, too.

Their conversations go on, with Aang and Ka sitting off to the side, completely excluded from the group.

(Well, at least they have each other, she figures.)

"There's something I should tell you kids," Bato says. "I'm expecting a message from your father."

"Really?"

"When?"

"Any day now. Your father said he'd send a message when they found the rendezvous point," Bato explains. "If you wait until the message arrives, you can come with me, and see your father again."

Aang lifts his head suddenly and looks towards his friends, his eyes full of worry and anticipation.

"It's been over two years since we've seen Dad," Sokka says. "That would be so incredible! Katara!"

"I really do miss him," Katara murmurs thoughtfully. "It would be _great_ to see Dad."

Aang stands up to leave, and Ka looks back towards him.

"It has been far too long, hasn't it?" Bato says, and continues on, but Ka does not hear the rest of his words.

She follows Aang outside, and they wordlessly start walking back towards where they found Bato's boat on the beach.

* * *

Aang and Ka sit in silence, side-by-side on the bow of Bato's boat.

That is, until, "I can't _believe_ they would leave us."

Ka blinks and thinks for a moment. "They never _did_ say they will."

Aang just shrugs at her. Suddenly, the sound of footsteps approaches, and the two look up to see a messenger on an ostrich horse riding up, clutching some sort of scroll in his hands.

"I'm looking for Bato of the Water Tribe," the messenger says.

Aang and Ka glance at each other. "Uh, we know Bato," Aang says a moment later.

"Make sure he gets this!" The messenger hands them a scroll, and Ka reaches down to take it from his hands. Once she has it, he rides away as quickly as he came.

Aang and Ka each grab one end of the scroll and unravel it, eyes widening at the realization that is, in fact, a map.

"It's the map to Sokka and Katara's dad!" Aang says. He blinks at the map a few times before quickly becoming frustrated. Snatching the map from Ka's grip, he crumples it up and stuffs it inside his shirt, tucking his knees to his chin and turning away.

"We cannot just _hide_ it from them," Ka says, shaking her head.

Aang does not say anything to her, and she is eventually forced to drop the subject.

* * *

They return to Bato's hut, to see Sokka and Katara still talking, seemingly not even noticing them.

"Hey, everyone!" Aang tries to say inconspicuously. "Sorry we were gone so long."

Katara turns with a smile. "Hey, Aang. Hey, Ka. I didn't notice you left."

"Yup, but now we're back." Ka sighs at his obvious attempts, and moves to sit when he does. "Sure could go for some delicious sea prunes!" He picks up the bowl he had set aside and shoves quite a few into his mouth, but chokes them up a moment later. "Mm!" he says, pretending to enjoy them.

 _What a bad liar,_ Ka thinks, and Aang just glances at her once with a tiny, annoyed frown.

* * *

The next morning, while Sokka and Katara are most likely away with Bato, Aang and Ka end up practicing their airbending a little more.

"You're getting better," Aang says, "but I can't help but think this is a little backwards. Aren't you supposed to learn airbending _last? "_

"It is more traditional to learn in the direction of the Avatar and Minder cycle," Ka says, and looks off to the side, "but our situation is not very traditional, is it?"

Aang stops in his tracks, and Ka can basically see his emotions flicker through his eyes. They must master all four elements by the time the comet arrives, or else the entire world will perish before their very eyes.

"I guess," Aang say a moment later, and nothing else. He airbends a pile of hay over towards Appa, and when he puts his hands down and exhales, the map he had stuffed into his shirt falls out of his sleeve.

"Aha! I caught you!" Mother Superior says, leaning down and picking up the crumpled paper. "You should be ashamed of yourself..." Aang stares at her nervously, smiling sheepishly. "Littering in the courtyard."

Aang visibly exhales in relief and takes the paper from her. "I'm sorry. I'll take care of this." He bows, and when she walks away, he almost mechanically shoves it back up his sleeve.

Ka sighs. "How long do you think you can hide it from them?" she asks. "They will find out sooner or later."

"If they do, they'll _leave_ us," Aang tries to defend himself.

Ka puts her hands on her hips and gives him a disapproving glare.

Aang leans back from her gaze and sighs. "Okay, alright, I'll tell them." He pauses. "Eventually."

She rolls her eyes in response. She supposes it is the closest she is going to get at the moment.

* * *

They go ice-dodging. Though, in reality, it is better defined as rock-dodging.

It almost ends in disaster, and in the end they use their bending to get past a large gathering of rocks. They make it to clear water, however, and back at the shore Bato pulls out a small cup of purple paint and walks up to the four.

"The spirits of water bear witness to these marks," he says, dipping his fingers into the paint. "For Sokka, the Mark of the Wise." He makes an arc on Sokka's forehead with his thumb and presses a dot into the center of it. "The same mark your father earned." He moves to Katara, tracing a crescent moon into her forehead. "For Katara, the Mark of the Brave. Your courage inspires us." Finally, he walks up to Aang and Ka and puts matching arcs onto their foreheads. "And for Aang and Ka, the Mark of the Trusted. You are now honorary members of the Water Tribe."

Aang pauses, looks down, and says, "I... can't."

It is happening, Ka realizes, and wonders just how worse Aang's timing can get.

"Of course you can!" Katara says.

"No," Aang insists, rubbing the mark off his forehead and backing away, "you can't trust me."

"Aang, what are you talking about?"

Ka moves to stand beside her Avatar when he moves to take the crumpled map out of his sleeve. "A messenger gave this to us for Bato," he explains, holding it out to them. Katara takes it from him and opens it, quickly slapping a hand over her mouth in shock. "You have to understand. I was afraid you would—"

"This is the map to our father!" Sokka yells angrily. "You had it the whole time?" He points an accusing finger towards Ka. "And you knew? And didn't tell us? How could you?" Aang looks away, and that angers him even more. "Well, you can go to the North Pole on your own. I'm going to find Dad."

He turns to stomp away, and Bato reaches out to him, "Well, Sokka, I think you should—"

"Katara, are you with me?"

Katara is silent for a few moments, staring at Aang with sad eyes. Then they turn hard, and she closes them. "I'm with you, Sokka."

They leave, and Aang covers his face with his hands.

* * *

Back at the abbey, they each prepare for their respective departures. Aang and Ka sit on Appa, Momo half-asleep in Ka's lap.

When she looks up, Katara is walking towards them with a sad look. "Good luck."

"Okay," Aang says, his voice soft. "You too."

Ka nods at her, and she leaves to join her brother and friend at the gate. Mother Superior walks up to them next, staring at them with an expression Ka cannot decipher.

"Guess we should be moving on," Aang says, almost as if he is in denial.

"That would be best," Mother Superior agrees.

Appa growls in response, and Aang nudges him in the direction of the gate. He watches the three walk away until he cannot see them anymore, and for a moment Ka thinks he is going to cry.

"You were right," he says softly to Ka. "I'm an idiot."

* * *

They end up sitting by the abandoned Water Tribe ship for quite some time, but Ka believes it is Aang's procrastination to leave—an attempt to see if their friends change their minds, and return to them.

After almost half an hour, nobody comes, and Aang finally lets it sink in, "Looks like we're going alone, guys."

Suddenly, Mother Superior runs up, frantic. "Avatar, Minder, you must leave!"

"Okay, I get it," Aang scoffs. "Everyone wants us gone."

"A group of people came to the abbey looking for you," she continues, ignoring his harsh tone.

"Who?" Ka asks, furrowing her eyebrows.

"A fierce-looking woman with a horrible monster, and a young man with a scar."

Aang and Ka look at each other knowingly. "Zuko."

"The beast was using the scent of a necklace to follow you," Mother Superior says, her brows furrowed, confused by her own information.

"A necklace?" Ka repeats, but she startles with realization the same time Aang does.

"Katara!"

* * *

They return to the abbey in time to see exactly what Mother Superior had told them. Prince Zuko and the older Fire Nation man sit on a fearsome beast with a woman, and the Water Tribe siblings are bound and thrown on the back of the beast behind the prince. Aang motions for Ka to climb on top of his glider, and they fly down towards them. The beast jumps up on its hind legs and sticks its tongue out towards them, but it falls down and sends all of its riders flying off, too.

"Aang! Ka!" Katara shouts.

The beast's rider cracks her whip, and mounts her beast when it jumps up. They charge in their direction, but Appa charge into them and distract them for the time being.

Prince Zuko faces them, his expression twisting into one of anger, and sends a large blast of fire in their direction. Ka jumps in front of Aang and points her hands in front of her, parting the fire with her newfound airbending. When the fire dissipates to their sides, the prince gives her a confused, almost startled expression. It is quickly replaced by the rage in his eyes, and steps to the side when Ka punches a blast of air at him. Aang does the same, much stronger, and the prince kicks his foot in another blast of fire. Aang pushes Ka out of the way and spins his staff in front of him to deflect the blast. The prince jumps closer and punches at his head and feet, scorching hot flames coming in their direction. Aang ends up having to throw his staff to the side and duck to avoid getting burnt. They kick air and fire at one another for a few moments, before they turn and send blasts at each other at the same time, creating a large explosion that sends them flying to different roofs.

Ka falls onto the ground as a result of the blast, and groans when she opens her eyes to see the prince running up across the roof where Aang lays. She jumps up, nearly scaring herself with how high and fast she can jump now with the aid of her airbending, and lands directly in front of her Avatar before Prince Zuko can even think about hurting him. She gets in between his outstretched arms and pushes the flames to the side when they are released. She feels the heat of the fire on her skin, but ignores any discomfort from it and makes a motion as if she is gently pushing him. The move is anything but gentle, and the blast of air that comes from her hands sends him flying back. He jumps up before he can fall, however.

"You've learned new tricks!" the prince shouts at her, and Aang jumps down from the roof towards their friends, who are positioned up against a wall. The prince's gaze is distracted on him for a moment, and Ka takes the chance to jump up towards him and send a kick into his side, sending him flying down to the ground and onto the courtyard.

When he seems knocked out enough, Ka jumps down to join Aang and they stop at a well.

"We need to get out of here," Aang says.

Ka nods. "We can—" Her words are interrupted when Aang suddenly shoves her to the side and pushes a wave of air out, blocking three large blasts of fire that had been shot in her direction.

Aang jumps onto the edge of the well, ducking underneath the wooden structure over it. He looks at the prince's wrist and frowns, noticing the necklace hanging from it.

"You've got something I want," he declares.

Prince Zuko follows him onto the well, but all of his firebending attempts prove to be in vain when Aang jumps across the four beams to avoid them. Eventually, he grows irritated and destroys the entire wooden structure. They step around the well, the prince nearly losing his footing a few times trying to catch the deft Avatar. Aang reaches to snatch Katara's necklace, but when he misses, the prince lunges for him. Aang jumps onto Prince Zuko's back and takes the necklace, before jumping up and flying into the air. He dives into the well with the necklace, and the prince sends a quick fire blast down it.

He turns his head when Ka clears his throat, and his eyes are almost as ablaze as his hands. Before he can even make a move, Ka just lifts her hands above her head, bending the water from the well. The water rises up and sends the prince flying, and Aang jumps out with it. The prince follows, landing face-down on the ground and staying there for a few moments before standing up with a growl.

The beast catches up with them, and soon the beast and the prince back them up into a corner of the abbey. Aang jumps down when the beast's tongue comes at him, and Ka bends the water from the well to douse the prince's fire blasts as they come at her. Suddenly, a huge wave of perfume washes over the prince and the beast. The beast flails around, startled, and its tongue comes out to lash against Prince Zuko on accident. He falls to the ground, and Aang and Ka take their chance to run out from under them towards Appa.

Aang moves to grab his staff, and the group moves to climb onto Appa's saddle to take off. Ka hesitates before grabbing Aang's hand, and she looks up at his face for a moment, before looking back at the fallen prince. Aang seems to understand without any words, and he lets go so she can run off towards one of the last few bottles of perfume untouched.

"Ka, what are you _doing?_ " Sokka calls, but she ignores him in favor of unscrewing the bottle of perfume.

She walks over to the fallen prince, who glares up at her as if he could burn her if she even took a step forward. Remembering what she had seen the nuns do to her friends to paralyze them, she leans down and holds the bottle underneath the beast's rider, and she groans before quickly rolling away from the older Fire Nation man in disgust. Ka looks over towards Prince Zuko, and holds the perfume underneath his nose. He snorts and sits up quickly, and when he stares at Ka in shock she thinks he is going to attack her. When he does nothing, Ka sets the perfume off to the side and runs back towards Appa, where Aang grabs her hands and pulls her up onto the saddle.

They take off, without a fireball coming after them or anything.

* * *

"So..." Aang says when they are far enough from the abbey, "where do we go?"

"We're getting _you_ to the North Pole," Katara replies matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, we've lost too much time as it is," Sokka agrees.

Aang frowns lightly and turns to face his friends. "Don't you want to see your father?"

"Of course we do, Aang," Sokka replies. "But, you're our family, too. And right now, you need us more."

"And _we_ need you," Katara says.

Ka finds herself smiling, and Aang climbs over onto the saddle from Appa's head and looks off to the side thoughtfully.

"I wish I could give you a little piece of home, Katara," he says rather dramatically. "Something to remind you."

"I'll be okay," Katara says, shrugging.

"Still, just a little trinket! Maybe something like..." Aang reaches behind his back and pulls out Katara's necklace with a big grin. "... _this?_ "

Katara gasps, and reaches out for the necklace. "Aang, how'd you get that?" She clips it around her neck, and Ka sees her visibly relax when she presses her fingers to the carving.

"Zuko asked me to be _sure_ I got it to you," Aang says, and Ka scoffs.

"Aw, that's _so_ sweet of Zuko," Katara mocks, putting a hand to her chest. "Could you give him a kiss for me when you see him?"

"Sure!" Aang says happily, and Katara leans over to kiss him on the cheek.

As Aang blushes and twiddles his thumbs, Sokka laughs and says, "Maybe _Ka_ should be the one to kiss Zuko, considering that stunt she pulled back at the abbey."

Ka gives him a deadpanned expression.

"Did you see his _face?_ " Sokka continues, trying to hold back more laughter.

"It felt wrong just leaving him there like that," Ka says, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Even though he tries to _capture_ you guys all the time?" Katara asks incredulously.

Aang and Ka look at each other, recalling the time they had been captured by Admiral Zhao and the prince had been the one to rescue them. Even if was for his own gain, he still saved them, and Ka will always be grateful for that.

(Thinking of Zhao gives her shivers down her spine, and she wants to throw up.)

"Yes," Ka replies firmly.

"But now he'll be able to catch up with us faster," Sokka mentions.

"Well, what's done is done," Aang speaks up. "I think Ka did the right thing."

Sokka rolls his eyes and leans back. "Of course you do." He hangs his head over the side of Appa's saddle.

"I wonder why he's so obsessed with you two, anyway," Katara says thoughtfully.

"He's _Fire Nation,_ " Sokka replies, and the subject is dropped then and there.

* * *

"You've been quiet, nephew," Uncle says thoughtfully, raising an eyebrow at Zuko when they walk back to the ship after escorting June back to where they had hired her. "Perhaps you are thinking of today's events?"

"Why would that _stupid_ Minder help us?" Zuko asks, his tone harsh and angry. The Minder had been _mocking_ him—there can't be a _ny other_ reason behind her actions.

"I believe she helped us because she wanted to," Uncle says, and Zuko directs his glare to him. "She and the Avatar would have just left you there if they didn't want to."

Zuko ignores his uncle and when he leaves for his room, angrily sends a blast of fire into nothing, taking a deep breath and clenching his fists. He remembers being so surprised when she came up to them that he couldn't even move, and he had just _watched_ her leave. He mentally kicks himself for not grabbing her as soon as he was mobile again.

Zuko _knows_ what it looks like when he is being mocked and made fun of. The look in the Minder's eyes when she held the perfume underneath had no trace of trickery.

As much as he hates to admit it, she was _genuinely_ trying to help him, and the idea of it makes him punch more fire into the air.

* * *

"This should give us a good idea of what's around here."

They stop at a roadside kiosk in the middle of a crossroad, more than lost on where they should go for more food and supplies.

"See if you can find a menu, I'm starving!"

Aang beams when he sees a poster describing some sort of festival. "I bet we'll find something to eat here, the Fire Day's Festival!" He points at the poster when the others come to look. "Fire Nation cultural exhibits, jugglers, benders, magicians..." He turns to Ka with a grin. "This would be a great place for us to study some real firebenders."

"You might wanna rethink that," Sokka suddenly speaks up, and they turn to look where he is pointing at. "Look at this."

There is a wanted poster of the Avatar and the Minder on the kiosk, and while the illustration of Aang looks extremely similar to the real one, the illustration of Ka looks almost lazy, smaller, and is missing her tattoos and violet eyes. To the side of the poster, Ka notices one of the Blue Spirit, who is now apparently wanted by the Fire Nation.

"Hey, a poster of us!" Aang says, not realizing the magnitude of the situation.

"A _wanted_ poster!" Sokka scoffs. "This is bad."

Aang takes the poster from the wall and Ka looks over his shoulder to read it. "They got your eyes wrong," Aang says, frowning. "I'm sure it isn't _that_ hard to paint violet eyes."

"The less resembled to me the better," Ka says, her voice soft.

"I think we better keep moving," Katara says.

"We have to learn firebending at some point," Aang continues, putting down the poster, "and this could be our only chance to watch a master's up close."

Katara bows her head thoughtfully. "I guess we could go check it out."

"What?" Sokka opposes, walking in front of Katara and putting his hands on his hips. "You wanna walk into a Fire Nation town where they're all fired up with their... y'know, fire? "

"We'll wear disguises and if it looks like trouble, we'll leave," Katara explains, walking towards Aang and Ka.

"Yeah," Sokka drawls sarcastically. "Because we _always_ leave before we get into trouble."

Aang turns to Appa and Momo. "You guys stay out of sight here while we go to the festival!"

In response, Momo flies into a nearby bush, and Appa moves to do the same, hiding behind it, though it hides basically nothing.

They ready their disguises. Sokka and Katara pull on black cloaks, while Ka rolls down the black sleeves of her clothes to cover all the way down to her hands. She pulls the collar of her black undershirt to cover her neck, and uses the spare black cloak to hide her white hair and eyes.

Aang, on the other hand, only pulls his orange shawl over his head, and grins at the others.

Katara giggles, while Sokka rolls his eyes and says, "It's like you're a _whole_ different person."

* * *

They walk into the festival, where all of the citizens attending are wearing some sort of mask over their faces. Children run across them, and Ka takes a step back when one steps on her cloak. The child apologizes as she runs away, giggling.

"I think we need some new disguises," Katara says.

"Where are gonna get masks like _that?_ " Sokka asks.

"Get your genuine Fire Festival masks here!"

"That was surprisingly easy," Sokka relents, and they all turn to go over to the mask dealer, perusing the array of masks on the shop.

Katara goes for a mask that depicts a lady covered in makeup, which Sokka chooses a blue smiling mask and Aang picks a red frowning mask. Katara thoughtfully switches the two, and Ka cannot help but feel it is quite fitting.

Ka chooses what looks to be a white dragon mask, and ties it around the back of her head, and pulls down her hood. The mask is as white as her hair, and it looks enough to be part of the mask if one does not look too closely.

They explore the festival a bit more, until they come across what looks like some sort of stage show. They shove their way to the front, and look up to see a man performing firebending tricks in front of hundreds of amazed people.

"Thank you!" the performer exclaims in response to the applause. "For my next trick, I need a volunteer from the audience!"

Aang immediately raises his hand into the air excitedly. "Ooh! Me! Me!"

Sokka shoves his arm down. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I want to get a closer look."

Katara leans down and whispers, "It's better that we don't attract _any_ attention to ourselves."

The performer points down directly at her. "How about _you,_ little lady?"

"Uh," Katara says unsurely, backing away and shaking her head.

"Aw, she's shy," the performer says, and spreads out his arms. "Let's give her some encouragement, folks!"

The crowd cheers and pushes Katara up onto the stage, and just before the performer pulls her up she looks back towards her friends, though any expression she may have made is covered by her mask.

Aang folds his arms. "Aw, that could've been me."

"This next trick is called _Taming the Dragon!_ " the performer explains, and guides Katara to sit in a chair. "You will be my captured princess," he says, holding her chin and tying her to the chair with ribbons. The performer bends the fire from the four bowls surrounding the stage into one above their heads, forming it into a dragon-like form. "Don't worry, young maiden!" he says dramatically. "I will tame this fiery beast!"

He bends a whip of fire from his hands and attaches it to his dragon, bending it over the stage and across the crowd.

"It's too strong!" the performer says. "I can't hold it!"

"We gotta help her!" Aang says, and Ka holds him back.

"No, we don't want to make a scene!" Sokka urges.

The performer's fiery rope begins to dissipate. "The rope, it's breaking!" It disappears completely and he starts to bend the dragon so it flies towards Katara.

Just before it can even touch her, Aang jumps up and disperses the flames with airbending, and the dragon disappears into an array of colorful confetti. His mask flies off with the wind, and the performer falls to the ground.

"Hey, you tryin' to upstage me, kid?"

The crowd starts to boo at him, and in an strange attempt, Aang starts doing a goofy dance and smiles at the crowd. Sokka and Ka climb up to free Katara from the chair.

"Hey, that kid's the Avatar!"

Aang immediately stops dancing, and Ka removes her mask to see the guards approaching them better.

"I think it's time to go," Sokka says, pulling down his hood.

"Follow me!" comes a voice from behind the stage, and they turn to see a man waving for them to follow. "I can get you outta here!"

They follow the man through the festival, trying to escape from the guards chasing them and maneuvering themselves through the large crowds of citizens. More and more guards notice them and appear hot on their trail, and eventually Aang takes out his whistle to call Appa. The man helping them escape throws smoke bombs at the guards chasing them, and before they know it they hit a dead-end cut off by an enormous supply of fireworks.

Appa appears just above them in the nick of time, and blows the guards away when he lands between them and the group. They climb onto his saddle, and before they are far enough away, the man helping them escape bites the top of another bomb and throws it into the fireworks supply. They explode, creating a beautiful display the group marvels at as they fly away.

"Nice touch setting off the fireworks," Aang says.

Sokka agrees, impressed, "You really know your explosives."

"I'm familiar," the man says, pulling his hood down and looking at the group.

Sokka blinks in realization. "You're a Fire Nation soldier!"

" _Was,_ " the man says. "My name's Chey."

* * *

They stop and make camp in the forest, where the man Chey starts to explain his story and why he followed them.

"I serve a man," he starts. " _More_ than a man, really, he's a myth, but he's _real._ A living legend, Jeong Jeong the Deserter!" Chey holds his hands out before him. "He was a Fire Nation general. Or... wait, was he an admiral?"

"He was very highly ranked, we get it," Sokka deadpans.

"Yeah! _Way_ up there!" Chey says. "But he couldn't take the madness anymore. He's the _first_ person to ever leave the army, and _live._ I'm the second, but you don't get to be a legend of that. That's okay, though." His sentence ends softly, but then he gets excited again. "Jeong Jeong's a firebending _genius._ Some say he's mad—but he's not! He's _enlightened._ "

Ka's first thought is: _this man sure loves his boss._ Her second is—

"You mean there's a firebender out there who's _not_ with the Fire Lord!?"

That.

Aang quickly stands up. "We've gotta go see him! He can train us!"

"We're _not_ gonna go find some crazy firebender!" Sokka protests, pointing an assuring finger at the two of them.

"He's _not_ crazy!" Chey protests. "He's a _genius!_ And he's the perfect person to train the Avatar and the Minder! That's why I followed you into the festival."

Sokka sighs, and stands up. "Look, thanks for the help, but we're leaving for the North Pole in the morning."

Aang sighs, and his shoulders fall. "Sokka, this could be our _only_ chance to meet a firebending master who would actually be willing to teach us."

"It can't hurt just to talk to him," Katara says.

"That's what you said about going to the festival!" Sokka shouts exasperatedly. "Why don't anyone ever _listen_ to me?"

When he turns, he almost runs directly into a spear. Suddenly, men in tribal wear jump down and surround them, pointing spears in their faces.

"Don't. Move."

* * *

They end up being escorted back to their settlement when Chey explains everything. Apparently, Jeong Jeong himself told Chey not to search for them, and when he says that, Ka finds herself becoming annoyed. Why would they go somewhere they are not even wanted?

They reach a hill, and when they look down, they see a small cottage surrounded by a river.

"Go on," the man called Lin Yee orders, pointing his spear towards Chey. "He sees you only."

"Oh, that's okay, we can chat later—"

"Is that where Jeong Jeong is?" Aang asks quickly, moving forward. "We need to talk to him right away."

The shaft of a spear blocks him from moving any further. "No!" Lin Yee shouts. "You wait there." He shoves Chey down the hill. "Go now!"

* * *

Some time later, when the sun starts to rise, Chey exits Jeong Jeong's cottage and starts walking back towards the group. Most of them are fast asleep, but Ka nudges Aang awake when she sees him walk into their temporary hut.

"What happened?" Aang asks. "Can we see Jeong Jeong now?"

Chey looks towards the group, sitting cross-legged on the ground. "He won't see you," he says, looking guilty. "He's very angry that I brought you here. He wants you to leave immediately."

"Finally!" Sokka exclaims. "Let's hit the road."

Aang frowns, and stands up. "Why don't he see us?" he demands. Ka moves to stand beside him.

"He says you're not ready," Chey replies. "Says you haven't mastered waterbending and earthbending yet."

Aang does a double-take. "Wait, how does he know that?"

"He saw the way you walked into camp. He could tell!"

There's a pause. Aang looks at Ka with a firm look, and she already does not like what he is thinking. "We're going in anyway!" When he walks out, she is forced to follow.

They stand outside Jeong Jeong's cottage for a few moments. Aang takes a deep breath, and they walk inside, parting the curtains and ducking underneath the entrance. Jeong Jeong sits cross-legged, his back to them, a semicircle of candles amidst him.

"Get out."

They hesitate before walking forward. "Master," Aang tries, "we need to learn firebending."

"Only a _fool_ seeks his own destruction."

Aang and Ka sit down in front of the candles, watching Jeong Jeong's turned, seemingly calm form. "We're the Avatar and the Minder, it's our destiny to—"

"Destiny?" Jeong Jeong repeats, his voice rising. "What would _children_ know of destiny? If a fish lives its whole life in this river, does _he_ know the river's destiny? No! Only that it runs on and on _out_ of his control! He may follow where it flows, but he cannot see the end. He cannot imagine the ocean."

Aang and Ka glance at each other. "Okay..." Aang says slowly, "but it's the Avatar and the Minder's duty to master all of the bending disciplines."

"To master the bending disciplines, you must first master _discipline_ itself. But you have no interest in this, so I have no interest in you. Now, get out."

"Please, we _have_ to learn," Aang pleads.

"This may be our only chance," Ka says, speaking up for the first time. Her voice sounds strangely loud in the echo of the dark cottage.

"Are you deaf!?" Jeong Jeong shouts, whirling around. "How can I teach you if you refuse to listen? Before learning firebending you must learn water and earth. Water is cool and soothing, earth is steady and stable, but fire—fire is _alive!_ " He reaches down to put his hand in front of one of the candles, gently bending the flame. "It breathes, it grows. Without the bender, a rock will not throw itself! But fire will spread and destroy _everything_ in its path if one does not have the will to control it!" He sounds almost breathless. " _That_ is its destiny! You are not ready! You are too _weak!_ "

When he slams his fists down the candles surrounding him flare up to illuminate the entire hut. When they go out, one suddenly relights itself, and before Jeong Jeong stands Avatar Roku and Minder Divya.

" _You think us weak?_ " Avatar Roku demands.

"Avatar Roku!" Jeong Jeong gasps, and lowers his head. "No, no! I did not mean that."

" _We have mastered the elements a thousand times in a thousand lifetimes,_ " Minder Divya says.

" _Now, we must do it once again,_ " Avatar Roku continues.

" _You will teach the Avatar and the Minder firebending._ "

They disappear, and Jeong Jeong lowers his head respectfully. "Yes, yes... I will teach you."

"Really?" comes Aang's voice. "That's great!" He raises his hands in the air excitedly, and Jeong Jeong only groans in response.

* * *

In the morning, Jeong Jeong and his new students stand in front of the cottage, Aang and Ka side-by-side on a rock in the river.

"Widen your stance!" he orders, and they follow. Aang's stance, however, is seemingly not to his liking. "Wider! Bend your knees. Now, concentrate."

Aang's expression suddenly looks dramatically concentrated, and Ka just sighs before doing what her master has told her, though, she is not quite sure what she is supposed to be concentrating on.

"Good, good."

"Wait, what do we do now?" Aang calls when Jeong Jeong starts to walk away.

He whirls around. "Silence! Talking is not concentrating! Look at your Minder and your friend, are _they_ talking?" Jeong Jeong points towards Sokka, who is fishing from a place on a boulder. "Even that _oaf_ knows to concentrate on what he's doing!"

"Hey!"

"But what are we concentrating _on?_ " Aang asks.

"Feel the heat of the sun," Jeong Jeong explains, gesturing up towards the sky. "It is the greatest source of fire. Yet, it is in complete balance with nature."

Ka closes her eyes, and twitches when she hears Aang say, "So when do I get to make some fire?"

" _Concentrate!_ "

* * *

Jeong Jeong leads them up the slope of a mountain, walking up to the summit.

"Are we coming up here so we don't burn anything with our fire blasts?" Aang asks hopefully, his eyes twinkling with excitement.

"Aang," Ka scolds lightly.

"No fire yet," Jeong Jeong informs.

"What?" Aang protests.

"Power in firebending comes from the breath," Jeong Jeong explains when they reach the top. "That is why you must master proper breath control."

"You brought us up here to _breathe?_ "

"Assume your stance." They do, and Jeong Jeong turns away from them. "Wider."

"You're not even—"

"Wider!"

Aang follows, and Ka looks over towards her master with an odd expression.

"Now, inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth—without talking!" He stops Aang just as he opens his mouth, and he is not even looking. As she and Aang do what he says, he starts to walk down the path. "Good. Keep going."

A few minutes after he is gone, Ka can feel Aang's frustration radiating off of him. She sighs, and flips her hair out of her face.

"This will help make us stronger," she says, but Aang just pouts and turns his head away.

"I wanna make some fire blasts," he very nearly whines.

"Fire is very dangerous," Ka urges. "We must learn the techniques before we can control it."

" _You_ may have had extra teachings in the Spirit World," Aang says, his tone unusually harsh, "but I didn't, okay?"

Ka frowns and quickly turns her head away. "Fine," she says. "Be that way."

They breathe in silence.

* * *

They eventually return to Jeong Jeong's cottage, and Ka does not say a word when they walk inside. She leans against the wall, completely disinterested in the conversation as Aang walks up to their master.

"What are you doing here? I did not tell you to stop."

"We've been breathing for hours!" Aang exclaims.

"You want to stop _breathing?_ "

Aang visibly grows irritated. "I want you to stop wasting my time!" he shouts. "I already know how to squat and breathe and feel the sun!" He wiggles his fingers towards the ceiling and then takes another step forward. "I want to know how to shoot fire out of my fingertips!"

Jeong Jeong is silent for a moment, and then he sighs. "I had a pupil once who had _no_ interest in learning discipline. He was only concerned with the power of fire—how he could use it to destroy his opponents and wipe out the obstacles in his path. But fire is a _horrible_ burden to bear. Its nature is to consume and without control, it destroys _everything_ around it."

Aang's frustration fades and he stares at his master with curious eyes.

"Learn restraint, or risk destroying yourself and everything you love."

* * *

Aang and Ka meditate on the rock in front of Jeong Jeong's hut, and after an hour passes, Aang finally speaks up.

"I'm sorry for what I said."

Ka turns to him once, and then looks back down at her lap. "It is alright."

"No," Aang shakes his head, "I shouldn't have said it." He looks over towards her with a serious, apologetic look. "I had instruction by the monks, and you had instruction by the spirits." He frowns at himself. "I was just frustrated. I know I have to be more patient."

Ka smiles, and Aang blinks at her a few times. "You're smiling!"

She pauses. "I do know how to smile."

"Well, yeah," Aang says, scratching the back of his head, "you just don't do it a whole lot."

Ka does not say anything for a moment, and then looks back towards her lap. "I suppose not."

Another hour passes, and Jeong Jeong exits his hut, stopping in his tracks when he sees Aang and Ka sitting there before him.

"I thought about what you said," Aang says, keeping his head down. "I promise I'll be more patient."

"We're going to work with fire now."

Aang airbends himself in the air excitedly, punching his arm into the air. "Oh yeah!" When he sees Jeong Jeong's look, he gets serious once more and bows. "I mean, let us begin."

Ka moves to her feet, and bows at the waist. Jeong Jeong stares at them before snatching a falling leaf. His thumb, where its placed at the center, burns the leaf in the middle. He does the same to another in his other hand.

"Concentrate on the fire," he instructs, handing a leaf to each of them. "I want you to keep the flame from reaching the edges of the leaf for as long as you can."

Aang sighs and looks down, shifting into his stance and staring down at the leaf. Ka does the same, and takes a deep breath, careful to place her thumbs at the edge where they will not get hurt.

"Master!" calls one of the tribal men as he runs up. "There is trouble."

"What's going on?" Aang asks just as they start to run away.

"Concentrate on your leaf!"

Aang groans, and Katara walks up curiously. "This is the worst firebending instruction ever!" he exclaims, throwing his arms in the air and looking at her. "All he does is leave us alone for hours to concentrate or breathe!"

Ka sighs, and ducks underneath another wave of his arms to concentrate on keeping her leaf stable.

"I'm sure there's a good reason," she hears Katara say.

"But I'm ready to do _so_ much more," Aang says, and then suddenly gets serious. He breathes deeply, in and out, and concentrates harder than Ka's ever seen him. She watches as the leaf he holds burns up into a small flame in his hands. "I did it!" he shouts. "I made fire!"

Ka's eyes widen, and she looks down at her own leaf. In her distraction, it suddenly bursts into flames and then disappears, falling to ashes at her feet. She clicks her tongue.

"Aang, that's great, but you should take it slow," Katara says, walking up closer.

Aang furrows his eyebrows and slams his fist, which only makes the fire get larger before his very eyes. He nearly stumbles back into the water, waving his arms to steady himself.

"Now _that's_ firebending!" he laughs, and takes a step before sending a blast of fire into the air.

"Aang, you'll hurt yourself!" Katara exclaims.

"Aang," Ka tries, but her Avatar is too preoccupied with juggling his small ball of fire back and forth, across his body, and behind his head.

He pauses thoughtfully, and lifts his arms. "I wonder how that juggler did it." He turns around, squatting down, and then moves his hands up to the sides, spreading the fire all around his body. Ka has to duck in order to avoid the flames.

Ka hears Katara hold her hands out in front of her and scream in fear, before falling back and holding her hands to her middle.

"Katara!" Aang shouts with a gasp, jumping over to her side. "I am _so_ sorry!"

As she sobs, Sokka quickly hears the commotion and runs up. "Katara, what's wrong?" He observes her hands and glares up at Aang. "What did you do!?'

"I-I'm sorry, it was an accident—"

Sokka quickly tackles Aang, and holds him down. "I _told_ you we shouldn't mess around with this! Look what you did! You _burned_ my _sister!_ "

Katara only sobs harder and runs away, disappearing into the forest. Aang watches her go, gripping the grass and looking very near tears. Jeong Jeong runs up, taking note of everything.

"This is all _your_ fault!" Sokka accuses.

Jeong Jeong looks down. "I know! Now pack your things. You must leave immediately."

"I'm sorry," Aang tries again, "I didn't—I'm sorry!" Sokka runs off towards their temporary sleeping place, ignoring him, and Aang looks up at Jeong Jeong pleadingly. Their master only looks away, disappointment written all over his face.

When he leaves, Ka walks over to the fallen Aang and crosses her arms. He looks up at her.

"You're angry at me, too," he says softly.

"Of _course_ I am!" Ka says, her voice louder than she has ever gotten it before. "I told you! Fire is dangerous! And you _refused_ to listen to me!"

Aang just lowers his head. "I know. I'm sorry."

* * *

Time passes, apologies are exchanged, and eventually Aang and Ka go to the river to rescue Jeong Jeong from Admiral Zhao and his soldiers.

Ka feels herself fill with rage when she sees Zhao facing their master, and Aang shouts after them. Suddenly, as firebenders surround Jeong Jeong, he smirks and wraps himself in a quick ball of flames. When they disappear, so does Jeong Jeong, and the soldiers look around in confusion.

"It's a trick!" Zhao shouts. "He's run off into the woods. Find him!" He then turns to Aang, giving a fierce, angry glare. "Let's find out what my old master has taught you."

Aang's eyes widen. " _You_ were Jeong Jeong's student?"

"Until I got bored." Zhao moves forward and sends a wave of fire in their direction.

Aang and Ka each jump to a different way, Aang flipping in the air to avoid getting his clothes singed. He punches two more blasts, and they both duck out of the way.

Zhao clicks his tongue at the sight. "I see he taught you how to duck and run like a coward. But I doubt he showed you what a firebender is _truly_ capable of!"

At the next intense blast, Aang bends the air beneath him and lowers his head, before turning to see where it lands. "Whoa, wild shot!"

"I'll show you wild!"

The fire blasts get more intense, more angry, and more frequent. Aang and Ka duck and avoid them, Ka ending up having to use airbending to deflect one of them. She looks back at the burning forest, and over at Aang. "No self-control," she says, and he nods once.

They jump across Zhao's boats and taunt him enough to the point where he angrily sets fire to his entire fleet, not even noticing a thing. He is too focused on the Avatar and the Minder to even notice it.

"Nowhere to run now, you little smart mouth!"

"You lost," Ka says simply.

Zhao turns around, kicking a blast of fire where they once stood. The two airbend themselves into the air before landing on the very end of the ship, arms folded in front of them smugly.

"Are you crazy?" Zhao rages. "Neither of you have throw a single blow!"

"No," Ka says.

Aang smiles and gestures to the ablaze boats. "But you have. Jeong Jeong said you had no restraint."

* * *

They fly away on Appa when he comes, and notice that the entire village is has vanished without a trace, everyone having abandoned it.

"Aang," Katara suddenly speaks up, "you're burned." She scoots forward and bends the water from her pouch. "Let me help you." The water covers her hand and she presses it against Aang's burn, inhaling deeply. The water glows and when she pulls her hand away, the burn is gone.

Aang blinks in surprise. "Wow, that's good water."

"When did you learn that?" Sokka asks.

Katara shrugs. "I guess I always knew."

"Oh, well then, thanks for all the first aid over the years," Sokka says sarcastically. "Like when I fell into the greaseberry bramble. Or that time I had _two_ _fishhooks_ in my _thumb!_ "

" _Two?_ " Ka questions.

"He tried to get the _first_ fishhook out with _another_ fishhook," Katara exclaims, snorting.

"Oh, and the time that mink snake bit me! Thanks for healing _that_ up. That was great. _Really_ helpful."

* * *

The Northern Air Temple has simply become a settlement for refugees, they come to discover, and many parts of the temple are either ruined or destroyed to make room for new mechanisms and areas.

Aang's frustration and anger is so strong that it makes Ka feel the same—even more so when she sees that, in fact, a statue of Minder Divya is now covered in pipes and machines.

They eventually discover the Fire Nation's presence, and the fact that the main mechanist of the place is crafting weapons and machinery for them so they will not be destroyed.

The Fire Nation comes, and they push them back.

It all ends well, she supposes.

* * *

"I'm not one to complain," comes Sokka, his sentence a complete lie, "but can't Appa fly _any_ higher?"

Aang whirls around, his eye twitching irritably. " _I_ have an idea! Why don't we all get on _your_ back and _you_ can fly us to the North Pole!"

"I'd _love_ to," Sokka says sarcastically, then turns around and points to his back. "Climb on everyone, Sokka's ready for take-off."

Katara lays on her stomach, propping herself up on her elbows. She waves her hands dismissively, looking between Aang and Sokka. "Look, we're all just a little tired and cranky because we've been flying for two days straight."

"A little," Ka deadpans from her place beside Aang.

Sokka turns back and Momo jumps in his lap. "And for _what?_ " he says. "We can't _even_ find the Northern Water Tribe." He gestures to the vast expanse of ocean and ice. "There's _nothing_ up here."

As if on cue, the water in front of Appa suddenly rises and solidifies into ice. Aang screams, yanking the reins in an attempt to avoid them. The sharp turn makes the group very nearly fall off, and Ka has to grab onto Aang before she goes flying off. Another spike of ice shoots up before them, and as Appa flies upwards, a patch of ice catches onto his leg and they go flying. When he lands in the water, the ocean around them freezes into ice, and they are trapped in place. Water Tribe boats appear, waterbenders in position on every single on of them.

"They're waterbenders!" Katara gasps. "We found the Water Tribe!"

* * *

They eventually are escorted to the Northern Water Tribe, catching the attention of everyone they pass.

The walls and canals of the city are controlled by waterbenders, who bend the ice and snow to let them pass or stop.

"I can't believe how many waterbenders live up here," Katara says, leaning over the side of the saddle to watch.

Aang grins. "We'll find a master to teach us, no problem."

Beside them, on another boat, a young lady with hair as white as Ka's and dressed in fancy robes passes by. Ka gives her a sparing glance, because she has never seen someone as young as her with hair as white as her, but the stare Sokka gives her is much more intense and dreamy.

"This place is beautiful," Katara says offhandedly.

"Yeah..." Sokka sighs, his eyes still trailing after the young girl, "she is..."

* * *

When night falls, their group is honored with a large feast, hosted by the tribe's chief, with nearly the entire tribe in attendance. Ka can feel hundreds of eyes on her, and she tries to make herself look small from the sheer anxiety of it all.

There is the sound of drums and steam, and the tribe's chief, Chief Arnook, stands before his people and says, "Tonight, we celebrate the arrival of our brother and sister from the Southern Tribe. And they have brought with them, two people _very_ special, two whom many of us believed disappeared from the world until now." He gestures grandly towards Aang and Ka. "The Avatar and the Minder!" The crowd cheers in reply, and Aang gives a sheepish wave. "We also celebrate my daughter's sixteenth birthday," the chief continues, and the young lady from before steps up beside him. "Princess Yue is now of marrying age!"

"Thank you, Father," thanks the princess, and she turns back to the crowd. "May the great Ocean and Moon Spirits watch over us during these troubled times!"

Ka stares at her curiously, feeling a sort of spiritual energy radiating off of her. She makes a mental note to find out more about her later.

After a man called Master Pakku performs with his students, and Sokka makes a fool of himself in front of the princess, the chief motions for Aang and Ka to come up, and they stand before him.

"Master Pakku," the chief says, "meet your newest students, the Avatar and his Minder."

Aang and Ka bow in reply, and their waterbending master only gives them blank looks. He gives Ka a very obvious frown, and she only furrows her eyebrows in confusion.

"Just because you're destined to save the world," Master Pakku says, "don't expect any special treatment."

Aang smiles and says, "Us and our friend can't wait to start training with you!" He then pauses, and shrugs lightly. "After we relax for a couple days."

Pakku frowns at that. "If you want to relax, then I suggest visiting a tropical island. If not, I'll see you both at sunrise." He turns to leave. "Good night."

After he is gone, there's a bit of silence. Aang and Ka simply look at Chief Arnook, who shrugs as his reply.

* * *

The next morning, they, in fact, climb the stairs to Master Pakku's training area, Katara walking in between them.

"I've waited for this day my _whole_ life!" Katara says, excitement written all over her face. "I finally get to learn from a _real_ waterbending master!"

They reach the top, where Master Pakku is practicing by bending a stream of water across his hands.

"Good morning, Master Pakku!" Aang promptly shouts, causing the master to drop the water and grumble.

"No, please, march right in," he drawls, "I'm not _concentrating_ or anything."

Aang winces. "Uh... this is our friend, Katara," he says, gesturing to said girl. "The one I told you about?"

Katara bows with a smile, but Pakku only stares with a distasteful look.

"I'm sorry, I think there's been a misunderstanding," Pakku says, bending himself a seat of ice to sit on. He crosses his legs and frowns. "You didn't tell me your friend was a _girl._ "

Oh, Ka suddenly realizes. That must be why Master Pakku is so displeased to train her.

"In our tribe, it is _forbidden_ for _women_ to learn waterbending."

Katara's fists clench at her sides, and she takes a step forward, her face barely masking her rage. "What do you mean you won't teach me?" she demands, walking up closer until she is directly in his face. "I didn't travel across the _entire_ world so you could tell me no!"

Pakku does not even bat an eye. "No."

"But there _must_ be other female waterbenders in your tribe."

"Here, the women learn from Yugoda to use their waterbending to heal," Pakku says. "I'm sure she would be happy to take you as her student, despite your bad attitude."

"I don't want to heal, I want to fight!" Katara says determinedly, putting a hand to her chest and holding her fist in the air.

"I can see that," Pakku deadpans. "But our tribe has customs, _rules._ "

"You're teaching Ka," Katara then says, gesturing to her, "and she's a girl!" At the word, Ka flinches. She has never felt entirely a girl—most likely due to her identity as a spirit. Spirits were known for being generally genderless.

" _She_ is the Minder," Pakku sighs, looking off to the side, "and as _much_ as I am displeased, I must make an exception, despite the rules."

"Well, your rules stink!" Katara yells.

"Yeah!" Aang agrees, face twisting in fury. "They're not fair! If you won't teach Katara, then..."

"Then what?"

"Then I won't learn from you!" Finalizing his words, Aang turns on his heel and starts stomping away.

"Well, have fun teaching yourself!" Master Pakku calls, as Ka runs up to grab Aang. "I'm sure you'll do a great job."

"Wait!" Katara says, and turns to Pakku. "Aang didn't mean that." She catches up with Aang and grabs his arm to prevent him from going any further. "You can't risk your training for me," she pleads. "You have to learn from Master Pakku, even if he is a big jerk."

Ka nods at Aang, and he sighs and nods back. He and Ka turn back to Master Pakku, as Katara hesitantly takes her leave.

Pakku grins. "Why don't we get started, then?"

* * *

By the time the sun sets and training ends, Ka feels exhaustion all the way down to her bones. She is tired, and she and Aang drag themselves to where they are sleeping at, and basically collapse on their sleeping bags.

When Sokka returns, he looks obviously irritated.

"How's warrior training going?" Katara inquires, and in response, Sokka kicks his bag and flops face-down on the ground.

"That bad?" Aang asks, propping himself up on his elbows.

Sokka lifts his head. "No, it's Princess Yue," he complains "I don't get it—one minute she wants to go out with me, and the next she's telling me to get lost." He lowers his head against and then looks between the three of them. "So, how's waterbending training?"

Katara groans and flops down on her sleeping bag in the same manner Sokka had done. Aang and Ka give Sokka matching frowns.

"Master Poophead won't teach Katara because she's a girl," Aang explains.

"What about Ka?" Sokka asks, and Ka knew the question was coming.

"I must be taught," she replies, her voice muffled by her face being pressed into the soft ground. "I am the Minder."

"Right, right," Sokka says dismissively, and all is quiet for a moment. Then he lifts his head and says, "Why don't _you_ guys just teach her?"

Her awful mood suddenly gone, Katara jumps up with an excited look. "Why didn't I think of that?" she gasps, and turns to Aang and Ka. "At night, you can teach me whatever moves you learn from Master Pakku! That way, you have someone else to practice with, and I get to learn waterbending! Everyone's happy!"

"I'm not happy," Sokka pipes up.

"But you're never happy," Katara counters, and motions for the other two to follow her outside. "Come on, let's go!"

A few minutes later, they find a secluded place near the water with no one in sight. Aang and Ka both choose a move they learned today, and they each bend a stream of water from the nearby channel.

"Master Pakku said this move is all about sinking and floating," Aang says before bending the stream of water into Katara's clutches.

She carefully moves her arms around the water and grins. "I got it!" All of a sudden, she freezes and the water twirls around her entire body before shooting upwards.

Ka's water falls from her hands. Aang looks flabbergasted, "That was amazing!"

Katara frowns and shakes her head, "That wasn't me."

When they look up, they see Master Pakku standing above them, looking furious. He takes the water and freezes it into ice, before shooting them into the ground.

"We were just showing Katara a few moves," Aang tries.

"You have disrespected me, my teachings, and my entire culture," Master Pakku says, his voice echoing angrily in the empty space.

"I'm sorry, I—"

"You are no longer welcome as my students."

* * *

The next morning, when Katara pleads with the chief to make Master Pakku take the other two back as his students, it does not end well, and she ends up challenging him to a fight.

The fight is grand and intense, and for a moment it looks as if Katara has a good chance of defeating him, with what little training and pure raw talent she has. In the end, she is trapped by spikes of ice, and Pakku discovers her necklace.

He had carved the necklace for Katara and Sokka's grandmother, and she had run away to avoid the arranged marriage.

Yue then runs away, and negotiations are made.

* * *

When they train next, Ka discovers that her waterbending progress is accelerating at a much faster rate than Aang's. She puts the blame on the fact that she is a waterbending Minder.

Aang awkwardly bends a blob of water into his hands and sends it off, before grinning back at Pakku. Ka does the same, much more smoothly and faster.

"Not bad," Pakku says. "Keep practicing and maybe you'll get it by the time you're my age."

Displeased, Aang turns around, and his frown quickly turns into a smile when he sees Katara running up the stairs. Ka waves at her.

"What do you think you're doing?" Pakku demands, as Katara looks up from catching her breath. "It's past sunrise. You're late."

They each move into their respective stances, and Katara grins.

"Good to see you here," Aang says.

Katara laughs. "You too."

* * *

In the vast expanse of ocean, hundreds of ships part of the Fire Navy fleet go out for miles.

"My fleet is ready," finalizes Admiral Zhao. "Set a course for the Northern Water Tribe."

* * *

 **this chapter is unfortunately less-than-quality than the others. oh well.**

 **next up is the siege of the north, parts 1 and 2. exciting chapters! then we move on into book 2. more character development awaits.**


	8. season one: episodes 19-20

**so. here we go.**

 **book 1 is ending, y'all.**

* * *

Ka sits on the steps in front of the sparring ring, hearing the groans of the boys Katara spars when she defeats them. She practices her waterbending on her own, though, her _practice_ mostly translates to her bending a ball of water into different shapes. Her birthright—or, she supposes, _accidental_ birthright—has caused her waterbending to accelerate at a rapid rate, and her training with Master Pakku now only consists of her practicing on her own and occasionally sparring with one of the higher-level students.

"Would anyone care for a rematch with Katara?" comes Master Pakku's voice, and Ka turns her head to look over at the line of students tired, and covered in ice or snow. Pakku then turns to Katara, who smiles brightly, "Katara, you've advanced more quickly than any student I've ever trained. You have proven that with fierce determination, passion, and hard work, you can accomplish anything." Pakku then frowns, and eyes Aang irritably, "Raw talent _alone_ is not enough. Pupil Aang!"

Aang, who had been floating Momo around with an airball and very pointedly not paying attention, suddenly jumps up. "Yes, Master Pakku?"

"Care to step into the sparring circle? I figure since you've found time to play with house pets, you must have already mastered waterbending."

Her Avatar uses airbending to push himself off the ground. "I wouldn't say _mastered,_ " he says, "but check this out!" He spins around, bending the snow off the ground around himself to make a makeshift snowman. After a moment, Momo jumps onto him and knocks him over.

Pakku shakes his head and Katara rolls her eyes. Ka just stares.

"Pupil Ka," comes her master's voice, and she stands and bows in response. "You have done very well with your training," he eyes Aang, "much better than your _Avatar_ has. I would take the initiative to make sure he is on your level."

Ka nods in response. "Yes, Master Pakku," she says, and when he goes to attend to his other students, she gives Aang a disapproving look.

"You're the waterbending Minder," Aang tries to reason. "Of course you're going to be better than me!"

"We have the same capabilities, Aang," Ka sighs, and motions for him to follow. "Let us go practice."

* * *

Sparring becomes more talking about their training and their destiny. Aang dodges too much for Ka to get any good hits in. In the middle of it, the heavy snowfall turns black and the water they bend becomes the same. Katara runs up and frantically announces that the Fire Nation are coming.

The Fire Nation have come for them.

* * *

"We'll be landing soon," his uncle whispers to him, glancing back over his shoulder to watch for any guards that might spot them. "Do you have a plan?"

No. He does not have a plan. He has absolutely no idea what he's going to do once he makes it off this pile of metal. There are guards at every corner, and there's the constant anxiety that consumes him that he might get caught, and all of his hopes of getting home will be taken away, just like that.

He doesn't say any of this to his uncle. He removes the mask covering his face, wincing when the cold air hits his still-healing cuts and marks.

"I'm working on it, Uncle."

If his uncle notices his troubles, he says nothing. They part ways.

* * *

They gather to the chief's royal palace, where warriors have gathered and the tribe's people listen to their chief speak before them.

"The day we have feared for so long has arrived," Arnook says, his voice echoing despondently across the room. "The Fire Nation is on our doorstep. It is with great sadness I call my family here before me, knowing well that some of these faces are about to vanish from our tribe, but they will never vanish from our hearts. Now, as we approach the battle for our existence, I call upon the great spirits." Ka feels her breath catch in her throat as Arnook lifts his arms and looks up towards the ceiling. "Spirit of the Ocean! Spirit of the Moon! Be with us!" He then looks across his people. "I'm going to need volunteers for a dangerous mission."

Sokka immediately rises. "Count me in!"

"Sokka," Katara gasps.

"Be warned, many of you will not return," Arnook continues, as several men rise from their seats. "Come forward to receive my mark, if you accept the task."

The men who volunteer stand in a line before their chief. The first man looks sorrowful, and there is a distant cry. Sokka steps forward next, and after receiving the chief's mark, he walks away.

Sokka turns back to look at the princess, and they share a sad gaze before Sokka finally goes. The princess looks away, squeezes her eyes shut, and begins to cry.

Ka looks at the men who are sacrificing themselves for their people, and cannot help but feel the same way.

* * *

Aang is perched on a snow mound, looking off into the distance. The waters are quiet, and so is the city. Ka stands beside him, and turns her head when Chief Arnook steps up.

"The stillness before battle is unbearable," he says softly, as if to not disturb the mood. "Such a quiet dread."

Aang furrows his eyebrows. "I wasn't there when the Fire Nation attacked my people. I'm going to make a difference this time."

"We will," Ka says, and Aang takes her hand.

They eventually gather at the wall of the Northern Water Tribe. Warriors in traditional face paint hold spears and shields. Aang and Ka sit on Appa's head, the former tightly gripping his handle.

Suddenly, something bright appears on the horizon, soaring rapidly towards them. As it comes closer, Ka realizes it is, in fact, a fireball. The Fire Nation is here.

The fireball smashes the wall and sends the people on the wall flying back. Another fireball comes soon after, destroying a bridge and a home within the city. The wall of the Northern Water Tribe begins to melt away, falling into the water below.

Aang pulls Ka onto Appa after having fallen off from the force of the fireball. "Yip-yip!" he shouts, and they fly towards the fleet.

They head towards the first Fire Navy ship they see, Aang yanking on the reins in hopes of going faster. In response to their approach, the Fire Navy ship sends a fireball directly at them. Aang rises to his feet on his bison's head and smacks it away with his staff accentuating his bending.

"We'll take it from here, boy," Aang says, and the two jump off the bison and hurdle towards the ship.

Aang spins his glider open and flies down, while Ka quickly bends a spiral of water out from the ocean and uses it to propel herself into the air, similar to the first time she and her Avatar broke into their shared state. The men on the ship look on in horror for a moment, before determinedly charging towards them. Aang sweeps several men away and leaps onto one of the trebuchets, while a man carrying a sledgehammer runs up and slams it in Aang's direction. Ka lands on the deck of the ship and bends the water around her to slice one of their trebuchets into pieces. She sweeps the dumbfounded men off the boat, and has to jump out of the way when one of the catapults suddenly pulls itself into the other.

Two soldiers surround her, and she puts herself into a fighting stance as they direct their weapons at her. Just before she can, Appa's sudden presence on deck makes the soldiers scream and run away. She watches them leave with a confused expression, and gasps when the ship begins to rumble and shake. A giant spike of ice pierce straight through the deck of the ship, and Ka looks over the deck to see Water Tribe warriors on boats, suspending the ship in ice.

She runs up to Aang and Appa, airbending herself onto the bison's head and taking off to avoid the ruins of machinery sliding downwards. They look at the damaged ship as they fly, and then back before them.

An entire fleet meets them, stretching out for miles.

Ka feels her breath escape her. "You must be joking," she mumbles, and Aang's horrified expression only matches hers.

* * *

They take out ship after ship, until it is far too overwhelming for the two of them and once the fleet of ships stop in place they take their chance to fly back near the tribe's palace.

They land on the ground, and Aang and Ka hold their heads in their hands as Katara and Princess Yue approach.

"We can't do it..." Aang mumbles, and Ka feels as if she is about to cry.

"What happened?" Katara asks, kneeling in front of them.

"We must have taken out a dozen Fire Navy ships," Ka replies dimly, tangling her fingers in her hair and resisting the urge to pull on it.

"There's just too many of them," Aang continues. "We can't fight them all."

"But," Yue pleads, clasping her hands together in front of her chest, "you have to. You're the Avatar and the Minder."

"We're just two kids," Aang very nearly sobs, and buries his face in his arms. Katara wraps her arms around the both of them, and Yue hides her face in her hands.

* * *

He finally thinks of a plan. He's in the middle of winding up rope when he suddenly hears the door open and shut.

"If you're fishing for an octopus, my nephew," says his uncle, and he visibly exhales in relief, "you need a tightly-woven net, or he will squeeze through the tiniest hole and escape."

His uncle is worried about him losing the Avatar and the Minder. He frowns—he _refuses_ to lose this time. "I don't need your wisdom right now, Uncle," he tells him as much.

"I'm sorry," Iroh says. "I just nag you, because... well," and _oh,_ he knows where this is going, "ever since I lost my son..."

He squeezes his eyes shut. "Uncle, you don't have to say it."

"I think of you as my own."

This time, he turns to face his uncle, unsure of what to say for a moment. "I know, Uncle," he decides on. "We'll meet again." His uncle runs up and hugs him, and he doesn't move for a second. Moving out of his grip, he says, " _After_ I have the Avatar and the Minder."

As he gets on his boat, his uncle steps forward and says, "Remember your breath of fire. It could save your life out there."

"I'll be _fine!_ "

And he will. He swears it.

* * *

The moon is high in the sky. Ka finds herself transfixed by its gaze. It is Yue who eventually breaks the solemn silence.

"The legends say the moon was the first waterbender. Our ancestors saw how it pushed and pulled the tides and learned how to do it themselves."

"I've always noticed my waterbending is stronger at night," Katara says thoughtfully.

Princess Yue nods. Ka notices that her eyes seem to glow in the moonlight. "Our strength comes from the spirit of the moon. Our life comes from the spirit of the ocean. They work together to keep balance.

Ka's eyes widen in realization. "The spirits."

Aang gets the same idea simultaneously, his head suddenly rising and his demeanor brightening. "Maybe we can find them and get their help!"

"How can you do that?" the princess asks curiously.

"The Avatar and the Minder is the bridge between our world and the Spirit World!" Katara replies. "Aang and Ka can talk to them!"

 _I **am** one,_ Ka thinks, but does not voice her thoughts.

"Maybe they'll give you the wisdom to win this battle!" Yue says excitedly.

Aang throws his arms in the air with an almost wild expression. "Or maybe they'll unleash a crazy, amazing spirit attack on the Fire Nation!" When he is met with silence from the two girls and a hard stare from his Minder, he straightens himself up and scratches the back of his neck sheepishly. "Or wisdom. That's good too."

"The only problem is," Katara speaks up, frowning, "last time you two got to the Spirit World by accident. How are you going to get there this time?"

Princess Yue thinks for a moment, and then suddenly raises her head with a wide-eyed look. "I have an idea. Follow me."

The princess leads them to a round, wooden door near the base of a wall of snow in the palace.

"Is this the way to the Spirit World?" Aang asks, squatting in front of the door and looking up at her. Ka resists the urge to slap her forehead.

"No," Yue laughs. "You'll have to get _there_ on your own. But I _can_ take you to the most spiritual place in the _entire_ North Pole."

When she pushes the door open, what meets them is a beautiful, warm, lush oasis lying in front of a flowing waterfall. A wall of snow and ice and rock surrounds it, going higher and higher until Ka can barely see it anymore. She walks in, marveling at the sight.

Aang runs past her and over the bridge, landing on the grassy area in front of the pond and rolling around on the ground. "I never thought I'd miss grass this much!"

Ka kneels down to touch the grass beside him, and blinks. It feels so real, and also fake—for a place this warm and abundant in life to be in the direct center of the North Pole. She feels energy all around her, almost as if she is home, back in the Spirit World.

"It's so warm here!" she hears Katara say. "How is that possible?"

Ka removes her coat and sets it aside, before following Aang where he stands in front of the pond. Inside the pond are two koi fish, one black with a white marking in the center of its back, and the other vise-versa.

"It's the center of all spiritual energy in our land," Yue replies, her voice echoing.

"You're right, Yue," Aang says after a moment. "I can feel... something. It's so tranquil." He looks at Ka, and soon after they both sit in front of the oasis in matching meditating forms. The only sound around is the sound of the rushing waterfall. Ka feels almost at peace.

That is, until Princess Yue suddenly speaks up, "Why are they sitting like that?"

"They're meditating," Katara replies, rather unhelpfully, "trying to cross over into the Spirit World. It takes _all_ their concentration."

"Is there any way we can help?"

Aang blows up before Ka even has the chance to say anything, "How about some quiet? Come on guys, we can hear every word you're saying!"

He turns back to meditate, and Ka eyes him for a moment, but both of their gazes become locked on the circling koi fish. The sound of the rushing waterfall and the ambiance suddenly fade out, until there is nothing, and Ka's vision blurs until the koi fish morph into a symbol—

Then everything is white.

* * *

Katara watches as her friends' eyes and tattoos start to glow brilliantly, a proud feeling bubbling up in her chest.

Yue, however, does not share her emotions, and looks a mix between terrified and worried. "Are they okay?"

"They're crossing into the Spirit World," Katara replies, trying to be reassuring. "They'll be fine as long as we don't move their bodies. That's their way back to the physical world."

Yue, not convinced, starts to leave. "Maybe we should get some help."

"No," Katara says, stopping her, and smiles, "they're my friends. I'm perfectly capable of protecting them."

Yue still looks afraid, but before she can say anything else, another voice stops her.

"Well," drawls a familiar voice in an unfamiliarly sarcastic tone, "aren't you a big girl now."

Her heart drops to her stomach. She feels her entire body get cold despite the warmth of the oasis. "No..." she whispers, turning her head, her suspicions being confirmed. Prince Zuko stands there on the bridge, dressed in white and his face marked in cuts and bruises.

"Yes," Zuko replies. "Hand them over and I won't have to hurt you."

 _Not a chance,_ Katara thinks, and motions for Yue to run before assuming a defensive stance. Zuko gives her no time to think before he's kicking a blast of fire her way. He follows it up by punching even more fire at her, and Katara quickly brings up water from the oasis around her to block each one. Just as he prepares to fire another blast, Katara whirls around and bends a quick strike of water at him, sending him flying back.

He lands roughly on the ground, and growls as he starts to get up. "I see you've learned a new trick," Zuko says, "but I didn't come this far to lose to you."

As Zuko turns, fire comes from his fists. Katara conjures up another shield of water and sends a jet stream towards him, causing him to stumble backwards up to the wall of ice and rock. He fumbles when Katara freezes the water at his feet, and tries to block her moves when she sends the water around him up like a sphere, waving her arms swiftly until he is trapped inside.

Letting herself smirk, she meets Zuko's angry gaze from inside the sphere of ice.

"You little peasant," he says, voice slightly muffled from the ice. "You've found a _master,_ haven't you?"

After he finishes speaking the encirclement of ice starts to glow bright orange with heat and the ground around them rumbles and shakes. It melts right before her very eyes and Zuko jumps out from it. He kicks fire at her, and she draws water from the oasis once more to deflect it. He comes closer and closer until they're face-to-face, and he punches fire into her gaze to momentarily blind her before slipping past her and running over towards Aang and Ka.

She misses when she sends more water his direction, and gasps when she sees his fingers just barely slipping against Aang's collar. Before he can even think about grabbing him, she sends a powerful blast of water to knock him over into the other wall. Katara whips up a large wave and the rush of water sends him up the side of the cliff. When she freezes the water and traps him in, Zuko almost looks like he is out cold. His head is bent down and his eyes are closed.

Katara, pleased, starts to walk back towards Aang and Ka. The sun rises, and she looks up at it for a moment before hearing the telltale shout of Zuko. She turns around and bends water up to deflect his large attack, but she is too late, and the fire blast sends her slamming into the pole of the gate.

When the smoke clears, Zuko stands before her, holding Aang and Ka in his hands.

"You rise with the moon. I rise with the sun."

* * *

When Katara regains consciousness, she gasps when the memories come flooding back. She crawls around, looking for any sign of her friends, and groans when a sharp pain runs up her back.

"Aang! Ka!"

Appa suddenly appears, and Sokka and Yue jump down from him.

"What happened?" Sokka asks, kneeling down and helping his sister stand. "Where's Zuko?"

"He took Aang and Ka," Katara cries. "He took them right out from under me."

Sokka goes silent in shock. Then, after a moment, he looks around the oasis, and says, "Where did they go... ?"

* * *

(Above the oasis, over the wall of ice and rock, Prince Zuko trudges through the blizzard, pulling the Avatar and his Minder along with him.)

* * *

Katara buries her face in her hands, kneeling in front of the pond. "I can't believe I lost them."

"You did everything you could," Sokka assures, putting a hand on her shoulder, "and now we need to do everything we can to get them back." Katara looks over at him, tears in her eyes. "Zuko can't have gotten far. We'll find them. Aang and Ka will be fine."

Katara swallows thickly and nods. "Okay." Getting up, she climbs onto Appa with Sokka and Yue, and looks over at the frantic Momo. "It's all right. You stay here, Momo, in case Aang and Ka come back."

Momo only chitters in response, and Sokka says, "Yip-yip."

* * *

Ka opens her eyes to a familiar sight. She is back home, back in the swamp, and ignores the anxiety welling up in her throat.

Aang is beside her, and he stands up before looking all around with curiosity. Ka turns back to where they had awoken—and she blanches when she realizes it was, in fact, the gate where she had first found the Minder's spirit, years ago.

"Is this where you grew up?" Aang asks as they wander about, and his eyes cannot stay focused on one single thing.

Ka, on the other hand, stares straight in front of her. "Yes," she answers. "Has not changed a bit."

They come across a monkey spirit, meditating on top of a wooden entrance way entangled in tree roots.

"Hello?" Aang says, immediately disturbing his meditation; Ka resists the urge to sigh. "I'm sorry to disturb you. We just really need to find the Moon and Ocean Spirits."

" _Go. Away,_ " the monkey spirit orders, but Aang makes no move to leave. He opens one eye, and for a moment its gaze turns to Ka. " _You're still here?_ "

"Yes, we need—"

" _Ohm!_ " When a firefly buzzes past, the monkey spirit points at it and urges him away. " _Perhaps that thing will help you. Chase it!_ "

Aang runs off, foolishly believing him. Ka struggles to catch up with him as he chases the insect throughout the swamp and, eventually, up a tree. He leaps up and manages to grasp hold of it. Ka watches from below, wondering if she should tell him about the branch. He seems to realize it, however, when the tree branch below him shrivels up and disappears. He falls into the water, and the firefly escapes his grasp.

"Come back!" he shouts after it, as if it would listen to him.

"The spirit lied to you," Ka says simply, and Aang groans in response.

He rises to his feet and when he looks down at the water, Avatar Roku and Minder Divya appear as reflections.

" _Hello, Aang and Ka,_ " their voices say in unison, and the aforementioned children's eyes widen in response.

There is no point in beating around the bush.

"The Water tribe is under attack," Ka explains.

"We need to find the Ocean and the Moon Spirits," Aang continues.

Avatar Roku and Minder Divya rise from the water and stand before them. " _The Ocean and the Moon are very ancient spirits,_ " Roku says, " _They crossed over the Spirit World to the mortal world very near the beginning._ "

Ka stares blankly, vaguely remembering someone mentioning something about them. They were very ancient, respected spirits, according to her shaky memory.

" _There is only one spirit I know of who is old enough to remember,_ " Divya says, and Ka feels her eyes on her.

"Who?" Aang asks.

" _The spirit's name is Koh,_ " and Ka feels a cold chill run down her spine, " _but he is very dangerous. They call him the Face Stealer._ "

Aang looks horrified, and Ka feels as if she is going to throw up.

" _When you speak with him,_ " Roku starts to explain, " _you must be very careful to show no emotion at all. Not the slightest expression, or he will steal your face._ "

Aang reels back in shock, but after a moment he takes a breath and nods, his expression falling calm. Ka, on the other hand, feels anything but calm. She forces her face neutral, like she has done so many times before, but her hands shake and her face is pale with fear.

She feels foolish for being afraid. She has faced her father hundreds of times before.

When Aang looks at her, she only looks the other way.

* * *

Ka's body moves on her own when they walk to the giant tree that conceals the cave she grew up in. Aang and Ka stop in front of it, and she watches as he tilts his head at the sound of the odd noises.

Then she sees nothing at all. Her body feels too heavy, and too fast, and her hands tremble uncontrollably as she gazes into the darkness of the cave. _Her father is in there._ If she is not careful, he may steal her Avatar's face. He may steal _her_ face, and all of their efforts will be for nothing.

"Are you okay?" Aang suddenly asks, bringing her back.

Ka swallows. "I do not like this place," she replies, her voice soft and shaky.

Aang says nothing, and only takes her hand. He takes a deep breath, and she follows him. "Show no fear," they murmur in unison, "show no emotion at all."

They walk into the cave, Aang's hand still holding hers tightly. He leads her down the steps, and she forces her hand to stop trembling in her Avatar's grasp. She keeps her face emotionless, the action seemingly easier than breathing for her. She can only hope Aang can keep his the same.

"Hello?" he calls, his voice echoing through the cave. "We're looking for a spirit named Koh. "

They stop in the center of the cave, hearing movement but seeing nothing. A presence appears over Ka's shoulder, and she squeezes Aang's hand the moment before Koh the Face Stealer arcs around them and appears before Aang's face.

" _Welcome!_ "

Aang's eyes sparkle with recognition, and Ka suddenly remembers when her father appeared in their shared dream. He says nothing about it, and, rather impressively, his face remains straight. He lets go of Ka's hand for only a moment to clasp his hands together and bow.

"Thank you," he says emotionlessly, almost rivaling Ka.

Almost.

" _My old friend, the Avatar,_ " her father says, his voice low and almost purring. " _It's been a long time._ "

"You know me?"

Koh turns away from them. " _How could I forget you? One of your previous incarnations"_ —he suddenly whirls around with a different face, the mad face of an angry bearded man—" _tried to slay me! Nearly eight or nine hundred years ago._ "

"I didn't know that," Aang says slowly. "Why did he, or _I,_ try to kill you?"

Her father changes his face to the face of a woman with long, flowing brown hair—a face she has seen often. " _Oh, it was something about stealing the face of someone you loved._ " Aang says nothing, and only stares with a blank look, and her father grins maliciously and laughs, his face switching to one of a baboon. " _Of course, that's all behind us. Why should I hold a grudge against you for something in a past life? After all, you're a different person now._ " He comes behind them, and whispers into their ears, " _You've come to me... with a new face._ "

Aang closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. His hand squeezes Ka's.

Her father finally turns his attention to her, and faces her. " _And you've come to me with an old face,_ " he murmurs. " _How is the physical world treating you, my child?_ "

Aang glances over at her. Ka merely looks up at her father with a deadpan look. "Do not waste our time with pointless questions, Father."

Aang's hand jolts in her grasp at the word. She ignores it.

" _Right, right,_ " her father dismisses, and his face switches to that of an owl. He circles around her Avatar. " _It's been a long time since I've added a child's face to my collection. So... how may I help you?_ "

"We need to find the moon and the ocean," Ka replies.

" _Have you learned nothing from my teachings, child?_ " Koh reprimands. " _Their spirit names are Tui and La, push and pull. And that has been the nature of their relationship for all time._ "

"Please," Aang speaks up. "Help us find them. An entire culture could be destroyed if I don't get their help."

" _Oh, you think you need_ their _help,_ " her father drawls. " _Actually, it's quite the other way around._ " He turns and bolts towards them, his face an angry, blue, ogre-like one, similar to that of the Blue Spirit mask. " _Someone's going to kill them!_ "

"What do you mean?" Aang asks calmly. "How can we find them and protect them?"

Koh changes back to his usual white face. " _You've already met them, actually._ " He turns behind them. " _Tui and La, your moon and ocean, have always circled each other in an eternal dance. They balance each other—push and pull, life and death, good and evil, yin and yang._ "

Ka blinks. She remembers the koi fish in the pond, matching and yet not, circling around each other.

Aang's eyes open wide, and he grins, realizing the same thing as she. "The koi fish!"

Ka goes cold and Koh immediately reels around to face him, hoping for something and only meeting nothing. Aang's face turns expressionless again.

"We must be going now."

When he turns to leave, Koh's voice only echoes in the distance. " _We'll meet again._ "

They walk up the steps to the outside of the cave. Ka knew the question was coming, but even when it does, she flinches. It's only until then that she realizes she is still holding his hand.

"That's your father," he says, phrased like a question but his tone unquestioning.

"Yes," Ka replies. "I grew up in that cave."

"So that's why you're always so... expressionless," Aang realizes. "Your _own_ father would steal your face?"

Ka closes her eyes. Her body trembles. "Without hesitation."

A beat of silence passes. Then, Aang, much to Ka's relief, changes the subject, "The spirits are in trouble. We need to get back to the physical world."

Avatar Roku and Minder Divya's faces suddenly appear on the ground. " _A friend is here to guide you back._ " When they disappear, the image of Hei Bai replaces them, and they excitedly turn around to face him.

They jump onto his fuzzy back and set off. Hei Bai takes them to the gate where they had come from and drops them off.

"This is where we came in," Aang says, "but how do we get back?"

Hei Bai stands on his hind legs and sends a beam of energy from his mouth at the two of them. In a moment, they disappear, and their spirits fade back.

* * *

They make it to the oasis, except when they get there, their bodies are blue and see-through, and their bodies are nowhere to be found. Suddenly, they are surrounded by energy and fly into the air, across the sky and into the cave. It fills with light, and they open their eyes.

Ka soon realizes she is tied up. She struggles against her restraints, and sits up to see Prince Zuko standing there, his clenched fists at his sides.

"Welcome back," he says.

Aang narrows his eyes. "It's good to be back."

He takes a deep breath and airbends Prince Zuko into a wall, the force sending him and Ka flying backwards out of the cave and into the snow. They struggle to make it forward, resorting to wriggling like a worm. The prince comes out a moment later, holding Aang up by his collar and Ka by her hair.

"That won't be enough to escape," he hisses.

Suddenly, Appa appears and lands on the snow across from them. "Appa!" Aang exclaims happily, and when Katara slides off of him, Prince Zuko tosses the two of them aside into the snow.

"Here for a rematch?"

Katara all but scoffs. "Trust me, Zuko. It's not going to be much of a match." She brings up the snow to block one of this fire blasts, and then sends it in Prince Zuko's direction, launching him into the air before plummeting down to the ground, falling unconscious.

Sokka runs towards the two to cut them free. He holds up the rope with a smile. "Hey, this is some quality rope!"

Aang and Ka immediately jump up and start walking up towards Appa. "We need to get to the oasis," they say in unison. "The spirits are in trouble."

Just before Ka grabs onto Yue's hand so she can pull her up, she stops herself and looks up at Aang. He meets her with a knowing look and nods.

"Wait," Aang says, "we can't just leave him here."

"Sure we can," Sokka counters. "Let's go."

"No, " Ka urges, "if we leave him, he will die."

Aang airbends himself off Appa and aids Ka in carrying the prince over towards the bison. They push themselves off the ground with airbending, and land in the saddle.

"Yeah, this makes a lot of sense," Sokka drawls sarcastically. "Let's bring the guy who's constantly trying to kill us."

* * *

They take off. The prince is tied up with the leftover rope. Ka cannot help but notice the cuts and bruises all over his face, and she cannot help but wonder what could have happened to him to hurt him so much.

Suddenly, the moon turns red, and there is a pull on her chest that hits her hard. She puts a hand over her forehead and winces.

Aang and Yue are also holding their heads in pain, sharing her suffering.

Sokka leans forward towards Yue and holds her arms. "Are you okay?"

"I feel faint," Yue forces out.

"I feel it too," Aang says.

"The Moon Spirit is in trouble," Ka murmurs.

Yue looks down at her lap, her hands folded in front of her. "I owe the Moon Spirit my life."

Sokka blinks at her. "What do you mean?"

She almost hesitates. "When I was born I was very sick and very weak," she starts to explain. "Most babies cry when they're born, but I was born as if I was asleep, my eyes _closed._ Our healers did everything the could. They told my mother and father I was going to die. My father pleaded with the spirits to save me." Ka can only wonder how much the spirits would be willing to help—she does not know much, despite her heritage. "That night, beneath the full moon, he brought me to the oasis and placed me in the pond. My dark hair turned white. I opened my eyes and began to cry, and they knew I would live. That's why my mother named me _Yue,_ for the moon."

That is why her hair is white, Ka realizes. "You have the life of a spirit in you," she murmurs, almost to herself, but Yue hears her and nods at her, looking almost proud.

How odd that must be.

* * *

They are too late.

When they make it to the oasis, Admiral Zhao is already there, holding a bag that fumbles and struggles, the Moon Spirit firmly inside it.

"I am... a _legend,_ now!" he announces, and Ka feels sick to her stomach. "The Fire Nation will, for generations, tell stories about the great Zhao, who darkened the moon. They will call me, Zhao the Conqueror, Zhao the Moon Slayer... Zhao the _Invincible!_ " Momo suddenly jumps on his head, and Zhao stumbles as he tries to smack him away. "Ugh! Get it off! Get it _off!_ "

Momo eventually flies off, landing on Aang's outstretched arm and running to his shoulder. They move to fighting stances, as do the rest of Zhao's soldiers.

"Don't bother," Zhao says, lifting the sack and also his fist.

"Zhao!" Aang shouts, and lifts his hands in surrender, "don't."

"It's my destiny," Zhao says, his eyes twinkling with madness, "to destroy the moon and the Water Tribe."

Aang holds his hands out in front of him. "Destroying the moon won't hurt _just_ the Water Tribe. It will hurt _everyone,_ including you."

"Without the moon," Ka speaks up, "everything will fall out of balance. You have no idea what chaos will be unleashed on the world."

Zhao gives them a weird look, but before he can say anything more, a voice off to the side speaks up.

"He is right, Zhao."

Turning, they see the older Fire Nation man that often accompanies the prince. He is wearing a hood, standing on the bridge and glaring at Zhao. Ka feels almost shocked.

"General Iroh," Zhao says, calmly, "why am I not surprised to discover your treachery?"

General Iroh removes his hood, and frowns. "I am no traitor, Zhao. The Fire Nation needs the moon, too; we all depend on the balance." When Zhao says nothing, Iroh moves into a fighting stance. "Whatever you do to that spirit, I'll unleash on you ten-fold. Let it go, _now!_ "

As Ka begins to feel an odd, newfound respect for this man, Zhao closes his eyes and slowly releases the koi fish back into the oasis. For a moment, the moon comes back, and all is well until Zhao suddenly sends a slice of fire to the koi fish in the water with a shout of anger.

The moon disappears, and the world goes grey.

As he promised, General Iroh jumps towards Zhao and fiercely attacks him and his soldiers. When all the soldiers are defeated and tossed aside, and the smoke clears, Zhao is gone and nowhere to be seen.

In the pond, La frantically swirls around the dead Tui. They stand in front of the pond, horrified. Ka feels as if a part of her has died.

General Iroh reaches forward and picks up the dead fish, closing his eyes solemnly.

"There's no hope now," Yue whispers, hiding her face in Sokka's coat, "it's over."

Immense rage followed by immense power washes over Aang and Ka. Their eyes and tattoos begin to glow, and the voices of all the past Avatars and Minders merge with theirs as they firmly declare, " _No. It's not over._ "

They walk into the water, Aang standing with his back to his friends and Ka on his other side, her back pressed against his. La circles the two of them until its eyes light up similarly. They suddenly descend into the water, before the whole oasis lights up a bright blue, expanding from the pond all the way to the rest of the water. The water spreads and rises until it forms into a giant koi-like creature, with a figure in the center of it.

It is Aang, and it is Ka, but it's not. It's their fusion, their combination, and when their fusion raises its arms, so does the koi-like creature of water's.

They travel down the ways of the tribe, seeing the Water Tribe members bow down and the Fire Nation soldiers ready their attacks. They are only destroyed, and their fusion only lays waste to anyone who dares stop them.

They make it to the sea, where Fire Navy ships meet them. When one tries to throw a fireball at them, they only slice it in half, and push it backwards with an incredible force. Lifting their arms, they bend the ocean into an immense wave to push it back, driving them away and sending the Fire Nation out of the Water Tribe.

The moon has returned. They look up for a moment, and fade back into the sea. The Ocean Spirit drops off Aang and Ka at the wall, separated, their fusion gone.

They look up at the moon, at each other, and then back at the retreating Fire Navy ships.

"Did we do it?" Aang asks weakly, leaning on Ka's shoulder.

She only closes her eyes. "I think we did."

* * *

When the sun rises the battle is won, and they overlook the city, Ka's mind recalling the events in a shaky order.

She learns about Princess Yue, about her noble and brave sacrifice of her life, to become the Moon Spirit. She wishes she could thank her, but the sun is high in the sky. She must wait.

Katara walks up behind them, and before she can even think, Katara is embracing both her and Aang.

Sokka walks up, and places his hand on Aang's shoulder. They look to the ocean, and for a moment, Ka feels alright.

* * *

A young girl bows before her Fire Lord, the flames around her rising.

"Iroh is a traitor, and your brother Zuko is a failure. I have a task for you."

She smiles.

* * *

 **book 2, here we come.**


	9. season two: episodes 1-4

**this chapter follows the first four episodes of book two. we're getting into it, folks.**

 **enjoy,**

* * *

Their night is filled with nightmares—of glowing eyes and unnatural winds. Of uncontrollable rage and power so intense it consumes them.

First, they see themselves. They are at the Southern Air Temple, running across the rooms and paths until they come across a room covered in skeletons. Their own glowing, angry selves are knelt on the floor. When their angry selves turn, the wind begins blowing so hard that they are blasted backwards.

Into a red, fiery room, where the next version of themselves awaits. The sanctuary doors from Avatar Roku's temple open, revealing the same glowing, angry versions of themselves. They hover in air spheres, and quite literally breathe fire before slicing the floor in half.

They fall onto a ship, where the final form of themselves await. It is the spirit monster they fused into—with their combination in the center. This one, somehow, is the most terrifying of them all, with their most horrifying and noticeable features combined. This version of themselves bends the waves so hard that it turns the boat over—

And they wake up.

Aang bolts up and Ka follows suit, her hair sticking up in every direction. She watches as he wordlessly looks around the room, his face in a panic, until he realizes just where he is and calms down a bit. Biting his lip, he climbs out of his hammock and quietly makes his way up to the deck. Ka is about to get up when she sees Katara lift her head in confusion and go out after him.

Afraid of ruining the moment, she covers her head with her blankets and lies back down. She cannot sleep, not like this.

She wonders if they are truly that terrifying.

* * *

The next day, the Water Tribe members wish them off on their journey as they themselves make their way to the Southern Tribe.

"Katara," Master Pakku says, reaching into a bag and pulling out a flask on a string, "I want you to have this. This amulet contains water from the Spirit Oasis. The water has unique properties. Don't lose it."

She gratefully takes the amulet and wraps her arms around him. "Thank you, Master Pakku."

Moving on, he walks up to Aang and Ka and holds out a box of scrolls. "Aang, these scrolls will help you master waterbending," he turns his attention to Ka, "and help _you_ improve yours. But remember, they're no substitute for a real master." He is very obviously talking about Katara, and Aang's eyes drift to her for a moment before he nods and bows.

Sokka, on the other hand, doesn't get much other than a pat on the shoulder and a _Take care, son._

When they make their way onto Appa, Master Pakku gives them directions to the Earth Kingdom base where they are to be escorted to Omashu. Ka is not very thrilled to learn earthbending from King Bumi, when she considers her experience in his city, but if Aang is pleased, then she must pretend she is as well.

He _is_ her Avatar, after all.

* * *

"This is what I've been missing." From his place on the massage table, Uncle's voice twinkles with pleasure. "Who knew floating on a piece of driftwood for three weeks with no food or water, and sea vultures waiting to pluck out your liver, could make one so _tense?_ " He doesn't respond to his uncle, crossing his arms and pointedly looking away. His displeasure is obvious, for his uncle walks up to him and sits next to him. "I see. It's the anniversary, isn't it?"

He hates being reminded of it. He hates the scar that marks him. He hates the Avatar and the Minder for being so damn unattainable.

"Three years ago today, I was banished," he practically spits out. "I lost it all. I want it _back._ I want the Avatar, I want the Minder, I want my honor, my throne. I want my father not to think I'm worthless."

 _Tough luck,_ a harsh voice in his mind taunts. It sounds oddly like his sister.

"I'm sure he doesn't," his uncle assures, but follows up with, "Why would he banish you if he didn't care?"

 _Ugh._ Zuko quickly gets up and stalks off, ignoring the mean voices in his head and the anger and depression swirling in his chest.

* * *

They arrive at the Earth Kingdom base, an extravagant building settled in the mountains, where a group of soldiers and General Fong await them. When they land, the general grins and stretches his arms out wide.

"Welcome, Avatar Aang and Minder Ka!" he greets, he and his soldiers bowing. "I am General Fong, and welcome, to all of you _great_ heroes! Appa, Momo, brave Sokka, the mighty Katara..."

Katara, obviously pleased, crosses her arms and smiles. " _Mighty_ Katara? I like that."

Suddenly, fireworks go off, launched by the soldiers using earthbending. Ka tilts her head at the display, while Sokka grins and nods approvingly. Seems over-the-top for a simple escort, Ka decides.

She immediately grows suspicious. The general _must_ be planning something, except she is not sure what.

* * *

Inside the base, they sit in a large room, with General Fong at the desk before them.

"Avatar Aang, Minder Ka," he starts, his voice echoing almost ominously, "we were all amazed at the stories of how you two fused together and wiped out an entire Fire Navy fleet at the North Pole." He strokes his beard thoughtfully. "I can't imagine what it feels like to wield such _devastating_ power. It's an awesome responsibility."

Ka narrows her eyes. Aang shrugs.

"We try not to think about it too much," he says casually.

Fong's next words are anything but casual. "Avatar, Minder, you're ready to face the Fire Lord now."

That is the general's plan. Ka finds her eyes getting wide at the thought of even trying to face him.

"What?" she asks.

"No, we're not!" Aang follows up.

Katara quickly steps in, holding up her hands. "They still need to master all four elements!"

"Why?" General Fong says incredulously. "With the kind of power they possess, power enough to destroy _hundreds_ of battle ships in a matter of minutes, they could defeat the Fire Lord now!"

"But sir," Sokka protests, "the thing is, Aang and Ka can only do those things when they're in their shared state."

"See, it's this special state where—"

"I'm well aware!" Fong all but shouts. "Your eyes and tattoos glow and you're able to summon unbelievable power. Without you, we'd be slaughtered before we even reach their shores." He pulls out a map and guides his finger down from the location of the base to the location of the Fire Nation capital. "But with you two leading the way, as the _ultimate_ weapons, we could cut a swath right through to the heart of the Fire Nation!"

"Right," Aang says doubtfully, "but, we don't know how to get in or out of our shared state, much less what to do once we're there."

"And we have only fused once," Ka continues.

"So it's decided then," General Fong announces, only hearing what he wants to hear. "I'll help you figure out how to get into your shared state, and then you'll face your destiny."

They all rise up in anger and protest.

Katara cuts a line through the air with her hand. "No, _nothing's_ decided. We already _have_ a plan. Aang and Ka are pursuing _their_ destiny _their_ way."

General Fong frowns, and pauses for a moment. "Well, while you take your time learning the elements, the war goes on. May I show you something?" After a moment of hesitation, they follow and he leads the two of them to a window, that shows a view of the outside of the base. Fong points to a building, "That's the infirmary," and then to a group of several injured soldiers, "and those soldiers are the lucky ones. They came back. Every day, the Fire Nation takes lives." He whirls around to face them. "People are _dying!_ You two could end it, _now._ Think about it."

He then leaves them alone, and Aang and Ka merely look at each other unsurely.

* * *

"So many people are dying," Aang murmurs, as they stand alone in a corner away from the other soldiers. The sun is setting. "What do we do?"

"Even if we figure out _how_ to get into our shared state," Ka says, "we know close to nothing of it. It is dangerous to try and face the Fire Lord now."

"I know, but—" Aang cuts himself off and closes his eyes. "If there's a _chance_ that we could stop this... stop all the war and hate and pain..." He opens his eyes and looks up at Ka, his face desperate. "... shouldn't we at _least_ try?"

Ka pauses and thinks about all the souls that wind up in the Spirit World after death, how so many of them were soldiers, and how so many of them were young. How some were sad and how some were proud. How some cried when they realized where they were and how some only faded away.

( _Not everyone stays,_ she reminds herself. _Just like in the physical world._ )

People are dying. They must do something.

She finally meets Aang's gaze, and says, "I suppose we must try. I will go with whatever you decide."

* * *

When the moon is risen, they go back to the discussion room where General Fong sits, mulling over his math.

"General Fong?" Aang calls, looking around.

The man in question immediately perks up. "Come in, you two. Have you thought about our discussion?"

A beat of silence passes. Aang and Ka look at each other once before back up at the general with a determined look.

"We're in," Aang says.

Ka takes a deep breath. "We will fight the Fire Lord."

* * *

They go back to where their group is resting, and almost guiltily sit on their beds.

"We told the general we'd help him," Aang admits after a few moments, "by going into our shared state."

"What?" Katara asks, immediately sitting up. "No! This is not the right way!"

"Why not?" Sokka suddenly says, lying back on his bed with his arms stretched behind his head casually. "Remember when they took out the Fire Navy? They were incredible!"

Katara frowns and disregards him. "There's a right way to do this. Practice, study, and discipline!" She looks over at Ka, "I thought _you_ of all people would agree with me!"

She does, she wants to say, but Sokka quickly intervenes before she can say a thing:

"Or just glow it up and stop that Fire Lord!"

Katara angrily throws up her hands in surrender. "If you three meat heads want to throw away _everything_ we've worked for, fine, go ahead and _glow_ it up! "

"Katara, we're just being realistic!" Aang shouts once she starts stomping away. "We don't have _time_ to do this the right way!"

She does not return, and they eventually rest.

* * *

The first attempt to get into the shared state is _tea,_ of all things.

They sit in an outdoor room on the side of a cliff, with a beautiful view of a waterfall and a forest. Aang and Ka sit on one side of a table, a soldier across from them, and General Fong beside them.

The soldier drops something into the pot of steaming tea. "This rare chi-enhancing tea is a natural stimulant," he explains, and pours two cups before them. "In an ordinary warrior, it improves strength and energy ten-fold. In you, it may induce your shared state."

 _We must think of a name for it,_ Ka thinks, as she picks up the cup and observes it.

"Ten-fold energy, huh?" Aang repeats, and without any warning, downs the tea in one go. His eyebrows immediately start twitching, and Ka stares for a moment as he only seems to twitch more. She quickly puts down her cup and watches.

A few moments later, Aang rides around them on an air-scooter, unbelievably hyper. "Is it working? Is it working? I can't tell! Somebody tell me if we're in the state 'cause I don't have a good view of myself! Am I talking too loud?"

Ka frowns at General Fong.

From the floor, Sokka drawls, "I guess he could _talk_ the Fire Lord to death."

Aang eventually runs into a pillar and passes out. No glowing, no shared state.

* * *

All other attempts end similarly. An attempt to scare them into it only ends in screams and flinches. Wearing ceremonial clothing from each bending nation and throwing mud on them only ends in sneezes and uncomfortable rashes from the leaf hat.

General Fong eventually leaves to go ponder more ideas. Ka can only anticipate what is to come.

* * *

Uncle pours a bag onto the table, spilling several shells of different shapes and sizes onto the surface. He picks one up and smiles, "Look at these magnificent shells! I'll enjoy these keepsakes for years to come."

What a fool. Zuko tells him as much: "We don't need any more useless things! You forget, we have to carry everything ourselves now!" Thanks Zhao, the good-for-nothing _asshole._ He isn't even sure why he reached out to him in the first place. _Good riddance,_ Zuko thinks, _hope he enjoys his time in the—_

"Hello, brother. Uncle."

Oh, Spirits. He can't handle this right now. His head feels like it's about to explode.

"What are _you_ doing here?" he demands of his sister, who sits at a table in the corner with a calm, neutral expression.

Azula doesn't react to his anger, and simply picks up a shell with her fingertips. "In my country, we exchange a pleasant _hello_ before asking questions. Have you become uncivilized so soon, Zuzu?"

That godawful nickname. "Don't call me that!"

"To what do we owe this honor?" Uncle asks, his voice clearly portraying the opposite.

His sister walks towards them, and tilts her head. "Hmm... must be a family trait. Both of you so quick to get to the _point._ " She shatters the shell with her fingertips. "I've come with a message from home. Father's changed his mind." _What._ "Family is suddenly _very_ important to him." _What?_ "He's heard rumors of plans to overthrow him; treacherous plots. Family are the only ones you can _really_ trust."

She looks at him, but he has no idea what to think or say.

"Father regrets your banishment. He wants you home."

He does not have the Avatar or the Minder. There is simply _no_ reason. But... if people are plotting against him, he _wants_ his family around. What—

"Did you hear me?" Azula continues, breaking his train of thought. "You should be happy. Excited. _Grateful._ I just gave you great news."

Zuko turns to the window, his mind reeling with confusions and questions.

"I'm sure your brother simply needs a moment—"

"Don't interrupt, Uncle!" His sister turns to him. "I still haven't heard my thank you. I'm _not_ a messenger. I didn't _have_ to come all this way."

"Father regrets?" is all he can manage to voice. "He... wants me back?"

Azula pauses for a moment. "I can see you need time to take this in. I'll come to call on you tomorrow. Good evening."

She leaves, and the room is filled with deafening silence. Zuko just watches her go.

* * *

Aang and Ka stand on a balcony at the base, watching the sun set over the horizon. It is a sight Ka will never feel sick of.

Katara walks up to them, holding one of her arms anxiously. "Can we talk about something?"

"Sure," Aang replies, and the two turn to her.

"Do you remember when we were at the air temple and you found Monk Gyatso's skeleton? It must have been _so_ horrible and traumatic for you, Aang. I saw you get so upset that you weren't even _you_ anymore, and Ka was pulled into it, too." Katara bites her lip, and looks off to the side. "I'm not saying your shared state doesn't have incredible and helpful power... but you have to understand..." She finally looks at them, both of them. "... for the people who love you, watching you be in that much rage and pain is really scary."

Aang looks at his feet for a moment, eyes flashing with guilt. Ka tightens her grip on the balcony railing.

"I'm really glad you told us that," Aang says honestly, "but we still need to do this."

Katara is obviously upset by his words. Ka only looks to the side when she speaks: "I don't understand."

"No, you don't," Aang sighs. "Every day, more and more people die. We're already a hundred years late. Defeating the Fire Lord is the only way to stop this war."

Ka looks at Katara with a sad expression. "We must try it."

Katara frowns, and looks down. "I can't watch you guys do this to yourself. I'm not coming tomorrow." She turns and faces her back to them. "Good night."

When she's gone, Aang calls out weakly after her, "Good night..."

* * *

Their nightmare that night is far more terrifying.

They stand on Prince Zuko's ship back in the Southern seas, watching themselves rise in water vortexes, their face painted in glowing rage. They hurdle towards the deck on the ship and furiously waterbend their real selves off of the ship, falling into the icy sea below.

Their angry, glowing selves then turn to the prince, who gives them a fearful, wide-eyed look before turning and running.

They furiously slice at him, and that is when they wake up.

Aang turns to shake Sokka in a panic, "Sokka! Sokka, wake up!"

The boy in question groggily opens his eyes and blearily looks at them. "Huh?"

"I don't think we should be trying to bring on our shared state."

"You sure?" Sokka asks.

Aang nods, and says, "Yes."

Sokka turns on his side, "Okay."

"Do you think the general will be mad?"

"What can he say?" Sokka says. "You're the Avatar and the Minder. Who knows better than you?"

Aang and Ka share a look and an agreeing nod before they lie back on their beds. Aang falls asleep again quickly, but Ka does not, not as easily, at least.

Her thoughts are locked on the terrified look on the Fire Nation prince's face, and she wonders if that is how he truly looked when they had attacked his ship.

* * *

And so, the next morning, in General Fong's discussion room, they tell him as much.

"The thing is," Aang finishes humbly, "I don't think we'll ever be able to trigger it on purpose. So I guess that's it."

General Fong only stares at them. "You sure I can't change your mind?"

Aang looks at Ka, and she nods.

"We're sure," she assures.

"We can only reach our shared state when we're in genuine danger," Aang continues.

"I see," General Fong says, and Ka frowns at his tone, "I was afraid you'd say that."

Before anyone can react, he jumps up and earthbends his entire desk in their direction, sending the two of them soaring across the room. Sokka attempts to run after them, but he is grabbed and held down by two soldiers.

The impact sends them flying through the wall and into the courtyard of the base. They break their fall with airbending, and look up at General Fong, who stands in the hole they had broken through.

"Men!" he orders. "Attack the Avatar and the Minder!"

And so they do. The soldiers earthbend at them left and right, until they are trapped time and time again and can only dodge and flip their way to safety. All of Ka's attempts at waterbending are proven useless when they only block her attacks.

None of it brings their shared state to fruition.

* * *

She lied. She lied. Azula always lies.

He is not ever welcome home, not without the Avatar and his Minder. He is a failure. His father wishes to bring him back as a prisoner and lock him up where he can never see the light of day again.

Stupid. Embarrassing. Pitiful. He's chased the Avatar and his Minder for years and this is where it has led him.

His attempts to fight his sister fail, and eventually his uncle intervenes, because he is too weak to even defeat his younger sister.

They run. It feels like they've lost.

* * *

Eventually, Katara runs down the stairways into the courtyard to see all the commotion. She immediately gets involved, drawing the soldiers away from Aang and Ka and towards her.

Suddenly, in a flash, several earth coins come from the ground and roll around Katara. She pauses, looking around at them and then over at the general.

The general stands tall, and clenches his fists. "Maybe you can avoid me," he says, "but _she_ can't."

Ka's eyes widen, and before she can blink, Katara sinks into the ground, knee-deep. She struggles, her face stricken with fear as she tries and fails to pull herself out.

"I can't move!" she shouts.

"Leave her be!" Ka shouts back, her throat burning from the strain.

Aang leaps onto the ground and sends a gust of wind his direction, but the general only bends a wall to block the attack. When the wall falls, General Fong sends Katara waist-deep.

Aang runs up and clutches onto the general's arm. "Stop this!" he begs. "You _have_ to let her go!"

"You could save her if you were in your shared state!" General Fong announces, absolutely ruthless.

Aang bursts into tears, his grip going even tighter. "I'm trying... I'm trying!" Ka runs up and holds onto his back, staring into Katara's frantic and terrified gaze.

"I'm sinking!" she cries, and she is twisted around again until she is chest deep, her arms clutching onto the earth in front of her.

"I don't see glowing!" the general demands, and clenches his hand into a fist. Katara falls neck-deep.

"Please!" Katara pleads.

Ka's voice catches in her throat. Aang falls to his knees, and shouts, "You don't need to do this!"

"Apparently," the general says scornfully, "I _do._ "

Katara disappears into the ground, sinking completely. Before she does, Aang and Ka leap forward in an attempt to save her. They fall short, and their hands fall empty.

Katara is gone. She is buried. Ka's hands tremble when she looks at them, and an overwhelming anger consumes her. Her body glows, and she and her Avatar whirl around to face the general.

The general is shouting something, his expression excited, but the wind is rushing too loudly and too strongly to hear anything. They send the general back with a powerful air blast, and rise on matching earth vortexes uncontrollably.

And then suddenly, the rage is gone, and she is floating above her body into the sky.

Down below, Katara suddenly appears above the ground, completely unharmed. Their bodies land on the ground forcefully, sending a powerful wave across the entire courtyard. The dust clears to reveal the ground broken and in ruins. The houses and the soldiers are damaged.

She watches her body for a moment before seeing Avatar Roku and Minder Divya arrive on Roku's dragon.

" _It's time you learned,_ " they say, and fly higher and higher into the sky.

In the distance, in the clouds, are figures left and right, most obscured by mist.

" _The Avatar-Minder State, most often called the Shared State, is a defense mechanism, designed to empower you two with the skills and knowledge of all the past Avatars and Minders,_ " Roku explains.

" _The glow is the combination of all your past lives, focusing their energy through your body,_ " Divya continues. Visions of past Avatars and Minders pass through their mind.

" _In the Shared State, you are at your most powerful—_ "

" _—but you are also at your most vulnerable._ "

"What do you mean?" Aang asks.

" _If you are killed in the Shared State,_ " Avatar Roku says, suddenly standing in a line beside all the past Avatars and their Minders, " _the reincarnation cycle will be broken,_ " one by one, the Avatars and Minders blow away like dust, " _and the Avatar and the Minder will cease to exist._ "

As fast as it came, their spirits are brought back to their bodies and they exit the Shared State, tumbling to the ground and rolling into the dust. Looking up, the courtyard and the rest of the base is completely damaged, practically destroyed.

Katara runs up and embraces them.

"I'm sorry, Katara," Aang murmurs. "I hope you _never_ have to see us like that again."

"Ha!" comes General Fong's distasteful voice. "Are you joking? That was almost _perfect!_ We just have to find out a way to _control_ you when you're like that."

Ka rises to her feet. "You are out of your mind," she hisses.

"I guess we'll figure it out on the way to the Fire Nation!"

Sokka suddenly appears behind him on an ostrich-horse, and strikes the general on the head with his club. "Anybody got a problem with that?"

Silence. Then a synonymous shake of heads.

"Do you still want an escort to Omashu?" a soldier asks, when they climb on Appa and prepare to leave the spirits-forsaken place.

Katara frowns. "I think we're all set."

They finally leave, and Ka finds herself falling asleep, taking a, what she thinks, is a very well-deserved nap.

* * *

He is no longer the prince.

This is the only thought on his mind as he stares at the small dagger in his hands. The blade glints in the sunlight, and Zuko swallows thickly before holding the knife under his ponytail.

He slices it off, and wordlessly hands it to his uncle.

Their topknots are released down the river, and so are Zuko's hopes.

* * *

They come across traveling, singing nomads. At first, Ka is not very impressed by them, but then one of them takes her hand in tying beautiful flowers into her hair, and Ka is then not sure what to think of them. Nobody has handled her hair with such care before, and without any trepidation.

She keeps the flowers in her now-ponytailed hair even as she traverses through the cursed Cave of Two Lovers.

She is eventually separated from Aang and Katara when a barrier of rocks and debris split the tunnel. Sokka is not thrilled to be stuck with the nomads, and while Ka truly does not mind, she feels a constant anxiety in the pit of her stomach from worry. _Is Aang okay? Will he be safe?_ He has Katara with him, sure, but still. She is meant to protect him, and she feels that protective instinct even more now.

As they traverse through the tunnel, Ka feels a sudden pressure against her lips, so small and so fleeting. There is no one around her and nothing there to have done it, and she presses her fingers against her lips in confusion. There is no time to think about it, however, for badgermoles suddenly ambush them. They think they are in danger until Sokka accidentally hits the lute.

Playing music ends in them riding the badgermoles out of the tunnels, where Aang and Katara await them.

 _We let love lead the way_ is Aang's reply to the question of how they got out, and if the blush on his face says anything, Ka figures she has her answer to the strange pressure on her lips.

They say their goodbyes to the nomads, eventually, and the team makes their way towards Omashu. Their relief upon making it to the city is short-lived, however.

Omashu has been captured by the Fire Nation.

* * *

After coming across the fallen city, Aang finally speaks up after several minutes. He turns to face his friends, expression downcast.

"I can't believe it," he says. "I know the war has spread far, but Omashu always seemed... untouchable."

Sokka crosses his arms over his chest. "Up until now it was. Now Ba Sing Se is the only great Earth Kingdom stronghold left."

Katara frowns and walks up to Aang, putting a hand on his shoulder. "This is horrible, but we have to move on."

Ka already knows what Aang is going to say before he does.

"No. I'm going in to find Bumi."

"Aang, stop," Sokka tries. "We don't even know if Bumi's still—"

"What? If he's still _what?_ "

Sokka pauses. "A-around."

Katara steps in to try and soothe the situation. "I know you had your heart set on Bumi, but there are other people who can teach you earthbending."

Aang and Ka share a look. "This isn't about finding a teacher," Aang says. "This is about finding my friend."

* * *

After a few minutes of persuasion and planning, Aang sneaks them below Omashu's gate. He opens the entrance to a secret tunnel, which, upon opening, a flow of sewage spews out. When they make it through, mostly unaffected (except for Sokka), Sokka's slime coverage is removed only to reveal three pentapi on his skin.

When they're removed, they leave red welts on him. The Fire Nation guards notice them, and let them go only on account of Sokka being "sick of pentapox".

Upon searching for Bumi, they are mistaken for being some sort of resistance, and the supposed governor's daughter attacks them almost eagerly. They just barely manage to get away when the ground beneath them opens up and swallows them inside.

They fall into an underground cave, where dozens of people are gathered, all staring at the four. Three other men interrogate them until they discover that they are, in fact, the resistance fighting against the Fire Nation occupation of Omashu.

"So," Aang asks, walking up to the man called Yung, "is King Bumi with you guys? Is he leading the resistance?"

There's a silence. Yung then balls his fists angrily. "Of course not!" he all but shouts. "The day of the invasion, we readied ourselves for battle. We were prepared to defend out city... to fight for our lives and for our freedom. But before we even had a chance, King Bumi _surrendered._ "

Aang widens his eyes in shock. Ka moves to stand beside him.

Yung closes his eyes. "The day of the invasion, I asked King Bumi what he wanted to do. He looked me in the eye and said... he's going to do _nothing._ " He shakes his head and sighs. "It doesn't matter now. Fighting the Fire Nation is the only path to freedom. And freedom is worth _dying_ for."

He finishes with a smile, but the two staring at him are not. Aang and Ka share a look, nod at each other, and look back up at the man Yung.

"There is another path to freedom," Ka urges.

"You could leave Omashu," Aang continues. "You're directing _all_ your energy to fight the Fire Nation."

"But you are outnumbered," Ka says. "Now is the time to retreat."

And they finish together, "So you can live to fight another day."

The people gathered seem to startle at their words, and Ka finds herself forgetting that not everyone is used to their random, unison speaking. After a few moments of wide-eyed silence, Yung then frowns.

"You don't understand," he protests. "They've taken our home, and we have to fight them at _any_ cost!"

One of the resistance fighters speaks up, "I don't know, Yung, living to fight another day is startin' to sound pretty good to me."

"Yeah, I'm with the kids!"

The other fighter start whispering in agreement, and Yung looks across them with a conflicted frown before turning back towards Aang and Ka, "Fine. But there's thousands of citizens that need to leave. How're we going to get them all out?"

Sokka butts in, jumping forward and grinning. "Suckers!" he shouts.

The others stare at him blankly.

Sokka just smiles and shifts his eyes left and right. "You're all about to come down with a nasty case of pentapox."

* * *

As promised, the plan is to cover the entire city's population in pentapi, leaving red welts all over their bodies. Everyone, except Aang and Ka, prepare to stalk towards the gates, until Katara notices the two of them trailing behind.

"What are you two doing?" she asks. "Aren't you coming with us?"

Aang and Ka share a look.

"No," Aang says, "I'm not leaving until I find Bumi."

"I am going with him," Ka declares.

Nodding at Katara, they take off, using airbending to propel themselves in the air, jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

Balancing on the railing of one house, Ka nudges Aang when she notices a giant creature below, pushing forth a turnstile.

"Flopsie!" Aang exclaims happily, and jumps down. The animal in question attempts to reach them, a big smile on his face, but a chain wrapped around his neck prevents him.

Ka jumps up and bends the water from the animal's drinking bowl to freeze the chains. A moment later, Aang swings his staff hard enough to destroy the lock. Flopsie immediately tackles them both, and licks their faces, happy to see both of them despite him never technically having met Ka before.

"Come on, Flopsie!" Aang exclaims, climbing on top of him. Ka follows suit, wrapping her arms around his waist. "You gotta help me find Bumi. Yip-yip."

Silence. Flopsie makes no attempt at movement.

"Oh. I guess that doesn't work with you. Let's go!"

* * *

They find no sign of the king. Eventually, they find the camp where the citizens have gathered for the night, riding on Flopsie. Sokka and Katara run up to them once they see them approach.

"We looked everywhere," Aang says sadly. "No Bumi."

Katara hugs him, while Flopsie only moans in despair. Ka pats his fur, the animal nuzzles into her. Then, Yung walks up, an obvious frown on his face.

"We've got a problem," he says. "We just did a head count."

Katara's eyes widen and she turns to him. "Oh no. Did someone get left behind?"

Yung just blinks. "No, we have an extra." Pointing over his shoulder, Ka follows his finger until she sees Momo, staggering forward with a _baby_ clamped around his neck. The baby is dressed in paler Fire Nation clothing, laughing as Momo very obviously suffers.

At the campfire, Momo eventually makes it out of the baby's grasp, but the child continues to chase after him. The baby suddenly tumbles down when Momo flies away, right in front of Sokka's club. He curiously grabs at it and puts the end into his mouth. Sokka immediately snatches it away from him and holds it up.

"No! Bad Fire Nation baby!"

The baby starts wailing, turning its head to the sky and sobbing. Katara smacks Sokka in the back of the head and puts her hands on her hips, frowning deeply.

Sokka sighs. "Oh... alright." He reluctantly hands the club back to the baby. In response, the baby immediately ceases his crying and giggles at the sight of his new toy.

Katara leans forward and hugs the baby from behind. "Oh, you're so cute!" she coos in a babyish voice, before smacking a kiss on his cheek.

"Sure, he's cute now," Yung speaks up, "but when he's older, he'll join the Fire Nation army. You won't think he's so cute then. He'll be a killer."

Ka frowns. Katara only picks up the baby and holds him out. "Does that look like the face of a _killer_ to you?"

Yung only stares, unamused, his expression unchanging. The caw of a hawk suddenly interrupts their conversation, and when the hawk swoops down to land on a rock, Aang and Ka walk over to it to inspect the message.

Ka carefully unrolls the scroll from its canister, and Aang reads from over her shoulder.

"It's from the Fire Nation governor," Aang says. "He thinks we kidnapped his son. So... he wants to make a trade. His son—" Their eyes both widen in unison. "—for King Bumi."

* * *

As their friends ready themselves to enter the city, Aang and Ka stand on a hill and watch the sun rise over the city of Omashu. Ka holds the baby in her arms, gently patting his back when the baby makes a small noise in his sleep.

Aang has his makeshift hat fixed firmly over his arrow, while Ka's hair is tied into a tight bun at the back of her neck with a hood thrown over her head.

Walking down the hill, they see Sokka and Katara waiting there next to Appa.

Sokka gives them a frown, crossing his arms. "You realize we're probably walking right into a trap," he says, phrased like a question but said as anything but.

Aang shakes his head. "I don't think so. I'm sure the governor wants his son back as much as we want Bumi."

Ka shifts her arms so the baby is sleeping against her shoulder. "It is a new day," she says softly. "I have a good feeling about this."

* * *

The meeting place is a large, wooden scaffold along the half-finished statue of Ozai. The four stand there, the baby having been moved into Sokka's arms, and watch as three girls walk closer and closer to them.

Above them, a crane lowers a metal cage, and only King Bumi's head is visible through the hole.

The king snorts and laughs. "Hi, everybody!"

Aang smiles as the cage touches the ground, behind the three girls.

"You brought my brother?" asks the girl who had attacked them with knives earlier. She is dressed in dark clothing, and looks rather apathetic.

"He's here," Aang calls back. "We're ready to trade."

"I'm sorry, but a thought just occurred to me," comes the sly voice of the other girl, who apparently sounds much older than she looks. "Do you mind?"

"Of course not, Princess Azula."

 _Princess._ Ka feels her blood run cold. If Prince Zuko was, well, the prince of the Fire Nation, then this must be his sister, or some sort of relative. When Ka looks closer, she definitely sees the family resemblance.

"We're trading a two-year old for a king," Princess Azula says, glancing towards the latter. "A powerful, earthbending king?"

King Bumi, in response, smiles and nods. "Mm-hm!"

"It just doesn't seem like a fair trade, does it?" Ka already does not like the princess' tone and her controlling ways. Is it not more valuable to save a child than a crazy king?

The governor's daughter glances between the princess and her brother. "You're right," she eventually says, and walks forward, cutting her arm across the air. "The deal's off." Holding up her hand, the crane pulls the metal cage back up, as King Bumi laughs and gives a call of _See you all later!_

"Bumi!" Aang shouts, and sprints forward.

Ka tries to stop him before he jumps into the air, but a blast of blue flames pushes her backwards and causes her hood to fly off. The princess' eyes widen as she watches Aang leap into the air, opening his glider in the process. The gust of wind from his jump causes his makeshift hat to fly off. Last moment, he grabs onto it with his teeth, but it's too late—his tattoo is exposed.

"The Avatar!" the princess exclaims, and then notices Ka's now-exposed white hair and violet eyes. She smiles smugly. " _And_ the Minder. My lucky day."

The princess starts to run towards Ka, but she quickly removes the rest of her hood and airbends herself into the air, avoiding any potential fire blasts. In response, Princess Azula frowns and runs over to a pulley, blasting through the break rope, and is pulled up towards the top of the construction.

Aang lands on top of Bumi's metal cage, and Ka makes it to the top of the construction, looking down and watching her Avatar blow quick, cold winds on the chain that lifts him up.

"Aang, stop your blowing for a minute!"

When Aang finally gets the chain completely frozen, a sudden explosion from underneath Ka suddenly propels her into the air, sending her flying. The princess jumps out from underneath her, and kicks a powerful plume of blue flames towards Aang. Aang deflects the fire with a strong air current, and grabs onto Ka to pull her onto the metal cage before he swings his staff against the frozen chain.

Freefalling down, they land into one of the mailing chutes, rapidly sliding down the city. Ka frantically holds onto the side of the metal cage, as Aang laughs and stands atop of the cage.

"It's just like old times, isn't it, Bumi?"

"Aang, I need to talk to you!"

"It's good to see you too!"

When Ka looks up, she sees something quickly approaching on their left. On the other chute, the princess stands there in a box, and Aang looks over just as she points several fire missiles there way. Aang spins his staff above them to deflect the blasts, and then before them the chutes come together until the princess now approaches behind them.

She blasts more fire at them, one of the blasts very nearly singing Ka's hair until the latter ducks and retaliates by punching a powerful blast of air that nearly knocks her over. Suddenly, Appa appears next to the chute, and Aang hits the side of the chute to knock the metal cage out of it. Sokka and Katara reach up to grab it, but miss, and they fall down onto another chute.

Azula is still on their trail, but that changes quickly when King Bumi suddenly raises his chin and blocks her by bending a pillar of earth in the middle of the chute.

"You could earthbend?" Aang shouts through the roar of wind. "All along?"

"Well, they didn't cover my face," King Bumi replies, as if it was obvious, and raises another earth pillar to stop their descent. His metal cage sits straight atop the rock, and Aang and Ka land in front of it, looking up at him.

"I don't understand," Aang says, clenching his fists. "Why didn't you free yourself? Why did you surrender when Omashu was invaded? What's the matter with you, Bumi!?"

"Listen to me, Aang," Bumi says calmly. "There are options in fighting, called jing. It's a choice of how you direct your energy."

"I know!" Aang says exasperatedly, and counts along as his fingers as he says, "There's positive jing when you're attacking, and negative jing when you're retreating."

Bumi smiles. "And neutral jing when you do nothing!"

Aang holds up a third finger in shock. "There are three jings?"

"Eighty-five," Ka corrects.

Bumi nods in agreement. "But let's just focus on the third. Neutral jing is the key to earthbending. It involves listening and waiting for the right moment to strike."

Aang pauses and thinks for a moment, and Ka feels his confusion start to turn into understanding.

"That is why you surrendered," she says quietly.

"Yes," Bumi replies, "and it's why I can't leave now."

Aang frowns up at his old friend. "I guess we'll need to find someone else to teach us earthbending."

"Your teacher will be someone who has mastered neutral jing," King Bumi informs. "You need to find someone who waits and listens before striking."

Momo suddenly appears and lands on Ka's shoulder. Aang smiles and reaches up to pet him.

"Momo's mastered a few jings himself!" Bumi says happily, and Ka truly cannot tell if he is joking or not. "Goodbye, Aang and Ka," he then says. "I'll see you when the time is right." He lifts his chin and uses a rock to ascend up the chute, his maniacal laughing echoing in the distance.

When he is gone, Aang and Ka look at each other and smile, almost sadly. They take each other's hand and take off.

* * *

That night, concealed in the darkness, Aang and Ka jump onto the roof of the governor's home. Seeing them turned to the balcony, they jump down behind them in the doorway and release the baby. He immediately toddles towards them, and the two jump up just as the governor and his wife turn around and embrace him.

Giving another smile, they watch the family reunite before leaving.

* * *

There is so much energy coming from the swamp below that Ka cannot help but lean over Appa to stare at it as Aang descends.

"Hey, you takin' us down for a reason?" comes Sokka's voice, but it sounds distant. "Aang," he tries again, "why are we going down?"

Aang startles, and looks back. "What? I didn't even notice."

"Are you noticing _now?_ "

Aang pulls up the reins with a confused frown as Katara scoots up. "Is something wrong?" she asks.

"I know this is going to sound weird," Aang starts, still staring down at the swamp, "but I think the swamp is... calling to me."

"I hear it too," Ka says.

Sokka promptly holds a hand over his stomach. "Is it telling you where we can get something to eat?'

"No, I... I think it wants us to land there."

Sokka sighs and shrugs. "No offense to the swamp, but I don't see any land there to land on."

"I don't know," Aang protests. "Bumi said to learn earthbending we would have to wait and listen, and now we're actually hearing the earth. Do you want us to ignore it?"

Their friends only say _yes_ in reply. However, just as they go to fly over it, a tornado suddenly emerges from nowhere heading right towards them. There is no escaping it, and they are caught in the wind, flying off Appa's saddle and landing deep into the swamp. Aang and Ka land in muddied water while the others land off to the side. Appa and Momo are nowhere to be found.

Aang goes up to the top of the trees to look, but when he comes down, their animal friends are nowhere in sight, and the tornado has disappeared.

Alone in the swamp, they traverse through the thick trees and bushes. Eventually, getting fed up with having to push and maneuver through, Sokka suddenly pulls out his machete and cuts through the vines, "We better speed things up."

"Sokka," Ka scolds.

"Maybe we should be a little _nicer_ to the swamp," Aang tries, noticing Ka's discomfort with his harsh swinging.

"Aang, these are just plants," Sokka says, not even stopping for a moment. "Do you want me to say please and thank you as I swing my machete back and forth?"

"I think you should not swing your machete _at all,_ " Ka says lowly.

"Maybe you should listen to Aang and Ka," Katara says, ever the kindest. "Something about this place feels... _alive._ "

Sokka is not even fazed. "I'm sure there are lots of things that are alive here and if we don't wanna wind up getting eaten be them, we need to find Appa as fast as we can." He finishes his sentence with a sharp flourish of his machete, and Ka's breath catches in her throat.

She has a bad feeling about destroying this swamp.

(It feels far too familiar to her, in the first place.)

* * *

They make camp, and sleep surrounded by each other after spending hours kept awake by the constant, eerie sounds throughout the swamp.

They are suddenly awakened by vines surrounded them and tossing them several directions, promptly separating them into different parts of the swamp.

Ka stands up and calls for her friends, for Aang, but is only met with strange silence. She swallows, and walks along the roots of the thick trees to avoid stepping in the water of the swamp. Walking through the fog, she suddenly sees a small figure in the distance.

And then a giggle.

"Hello?" she says, but the small figure only runs away.

Jumping off the root, Ka dashes across the water in order to catch up with them. As she gets closer, she sees an strange flying boar beside the figure, who is dressed in a fancy white dress. It is a young girl, who disappears for a moment only to reappear behind her, giving another soft giggle.

Ka tries to run up to her, but she only fades away. She is surrounded by fog once more. Blinking, Ka convinces herself it is a trick of the light before turning around—

A flame meets her, produced by a pale hand that leads to the body of Prince Zuko. Ka covers her mouth with her hand to muffle a startled scream, and jumps backwards, but the prince only reaches forward for her neck. For a moment she thinks he is going to choke her to death—what is _doing_ here?—but then suddenly the familiar face of Aang is running into her and knocking her down past the bushes and into the rest of her friends.

"What do you guys think you're doing!?" Sokka shouts when they finally stop tumbling down. "I've been looking all over for you!"

Katara holds her head with her hand and winces. "Well, I've been wandering around looking for _you!_ "

Aang airbends himself to his feet. "I was chasing some girl," he admits.

"What girl?" Katara asks.

"I don't know," Aang says honestly, walking over to help his friend to her feet. "I heard laughing and I saw some girl in a fancy dress."

Ka immediately snaps her gaze over to him. "I saw her too," she marvels.

"Well," Sokka drawls sarcastically, waving his hands around, "there must be a tea party here and we just didn't get our invitations!"

"I thought I saw Mom," Katara suddenly speaks up, turning away, rendering Sokka silent.

After a few moments, Sokka fumbles over his words, and then says, "Look, we were all just scared and hungry and our minds were playing tricks on us. That's why we all saw things out here."

Katara blinks, her eyes going wide. "You saw something too?"

Sokka quickly looks away. "I thought I saw Yue," he admits, before turning back to face his sister, "but, that doesn't prove anything. Look, I think about her all the time, and you saw Mom, someone you miss a lot."

Aang and Ka share a look, and the latter frowns.

"What about us?" Aang says. "We don't know the girl we saw."

"And I saw Prince Zuko as well," Ka speaks up, earning confused and startled looks, even if her experience only lasted a few short seconds.

"And all our visions led us right here," Aang then says, walking around as if looking for something.

"Okay... so where's here? The middle of the swamp?"

Looking up, they see the massive tree growing beside them.

"Yeah, the center," Aang says. "It's the heart of the swamp. It's been calling us here. I knew it."

Sokka raises his arms above his head in exasperation. "It's just a tree. It can't call anyone. For the last time, there's nothing after us and there's nothing magical happening here."

As if on cue, a giant monster made of seaweed suddenly emerges from the water. It begins attacking them left and right, throwing the gang different directions and very nearly absorbing Sokka into its chest. It is not until Ka freezes him in place and slices him out, and waterbends repeatedly at the monster until it starts to fall apart, that they notice there is a man inside the center of the monster, bending the vines together.

"Why did you call us here if you just wanted to kill us!?" Aang demands, ripping apart the vines with his bending.

"Wait!" comes a voice, and the vines drop to reveal a short man wearing nothing but a loincloth. "I didn't call you here."

Aang and Ka look at each other with matching confused looks. "We were flying over and we heard something calling to us, telling us to land," Aang explains.

"They're the Avatar and the Minder," Sokka says. "Stuff like that happens to us a _lot._ "

"The Avatar and Minder?" the man repeats, eyes wide. "Come with me."

The man introduces himself as Huu and tells how he protects the swamp from those who want to hurt it—example: Sokka—and how he reached enlightenment underneath the large tree. The entire swamp, he says, is just one tree spread out for miles. One big, living organism. Jut like the entire world.

"I get how the tree is one big thing," Aang says slowly, "but the _whole_ world?"

"Sure," Huu says casually, sitting cross-legged underneath the tree. "You think you're any different from me, or your friends, or this tree? If you listen hard enough, you can hear every living thing breathing together. You can feel _everything_ growing. We're all living together, even if most folks don't act like it. We all have the same roots and we are all branches of the same tree."

Ka nods thoughtfully. What an odd, wise man, to be living in a swamp such as this.

"But what did our visions mean?" Katara asks curiously.

"In the swamp," Huu says, "we see visions of people we've lost, people we loved, folks we think are gone. But the swamp tells us they're not. We're still connected to them. Time is an illusion," he pauses, "and so is death."

"But what about our vision?" Aang asks, looking once at Ka. "It was someone we had never met."

 _And Prince Zuko,_ is the words Ka does not say. Aang knows she is thinking them, however. She could never hide anything from him.

"You're the Avatar and the Minder," is Huu's reply. "You tell me."

Aang and Ka look down with matching expressions. "Time is an illusion," they say in unison. "So, it is someone we will meet."

Huu, unfazed, nods.

"Sorry to interrupt the lesson," Sokka says, "but we still need to find Appa and Momo."

"I think I know how to find them," Aang blurts, and he and Ka kneel down to place their hands on the tree's root. "Everything is connected..."

Energy travels from Aang's hand, spreading across the roots, and they see matching visions where they hurdle through the length of the swamp until they see Appa being captured and thrown into a net by people in river boats and similar clothing to Huu.

Eyes widening, the two quickly stand. "Come on! We've got to hurry!"

* * *

Finding the boat of Appa's and Momo's captors, they destroy one of the boats and throw the captors into the air to free them. One of the men waterbends a blast of water towards them.

In shock, Katara stops bending. "Hey, you guys are waterbenders!"

"You too!" the man exclaims, and puts a hand on his chest. "That means we're kin!"

The sudden revelation ends in them sitting at a fire together that night, sharing food and stories. Ka feels slightly disgusted when Sokka takes a big bite into a giant bug, and puts down her own food.

She does not feel hungry. Her mind swirls with theories and possible reasons why she could have seen the prince in the swamp.

Nobody else had seen two people. She and Aang had seen the young girl, so obviously she was important to the both of them, but Prince Zuko?

He is not someone she has lost, even if they have not seen any sign of him since the North Pole. Not someone gone.

He is definitely not someone she loved. Or, loves. At least, not to her knowledge. She has helped him many times and has had many odd encounters with him, but she knows next to nothing about him.

(She decides her vision means she soon will. Or she will meet him again soon.)

(She does not need to tell Aang her hypothesis. He knows. He always knows.)

* * *

Zuko dreams of his mother for the first time in months.

It starts with her screaming his name, _begging_ for him to save her, and then she suddenly disappears in flames, and he is whisked away to his father's throne room. Instead of his father, he faces an older version of himself, angry and scarred and oozing _pure evil._ Before Zuko can even utter a word, the older version of himself jumps up and punches fire at him, swirling around him and consuming him until he is left in darkness.

In the darkness, a hole suddenly appears before him, lava leaking out from it. A hand suddenly grabs onto the edge, trembling and burning, and horribly familiar. Zuko finds he can't move, can't _breathe,_ and the hand is followed by an arm, then a head, then a face—

The Minder stares at him with glowing orange eyes, almost made of _fire._ Her hair blows all around, the ends burned and in flames. Her entire body is burnt so _black_ he can't tell if it's her skin or if it's _scarring._

She manages to push herself over the hole, and the lava only consumes her until she's _screaming, screaming, screaming, help me, Zuko, please—_

He wakes up with a gasp, and grabs his newly-stolen broadswords. There is no one around minus his snoring uncle, and he swallows thickly, sweat trickling down his face.

Pushing all of his thoughts aside, he lays back down and pulls his makeshift blanket over his head, ignoring the terrified looks of himself, of his mother, of that stupid Minder.

(He much prefers the sight of her violet eyes compared to the terrifying burning orange.)

* * *

 **uh oh. we're really getting into the drama here, now, huh? anyway.**

 **next chapter will include: avatar day, the blind bandit, zuko alone, and maybe the chase. we'll see how it goes.**


	10. season two: episodes 5-8

**a bit of a longer chapter today.**

 **enjoy.**

* * *

After being attacked by Fire Nation and very nearly losing Aang's staff and Katara's scrolls, they eventually find a small stall to replace their lost supplies.

There is no place in sight to replace Sokka's lost boomerang, however.

"I feel like I've lost part of my identity," Sokka moans dejectedly, his knees pulled to his chest as he sits with his back turned to them. He jumps up suddenly, and moves Aang's straw hat slightly to point at his tattooed arrow, "Imagine if you lost your arrow, or if Ka lost her weird tattoos, or if Katara lost her..." Sokka pauses and makes an odd gesture around the side of his forehead. "... hair loopies."

Sokka slowly saunters over to the stall where Katara gives him a reassuring hug. Sokka smiles, a little soothed, before turning to the merchant to pick up the basket.

"Here's your produce, ponytail guy."

Katara's efforts prove to be in vain, for at the nickname, Sokka deflates and turns away. "I used to be boomerang guy..."

The merchant walks out of his shop and over towards Katara. She dumps a handful of money in his open palm, and he gives it a surprised look as he jingles it a bit.

"Hey, Water Tribe money!" he exclaims.

Katara frowns. "I hope that's okay."

The merchant smiles. "So long as it's money." He moves to close up his shop, as the group walks over to a sulking Sokka. He slings bag over his shoulder and prepares to walk away, "Have a nice Avatar Day!"

Aang and Ka immediately turn around. "Avatar Day?" they repeat in unison.

"You guys are going to the festival, right?" he calls, turning to wave just before walking down the hill towards the nearby village.

He disappears down the path, and Aang and Ka look at each other.

"No Minder Day?" Aang asks, and Ka just frowns.

* * *

They enter Chin Village, still disguised, and make their way through the gathered crowd to stand in front of the busy street. The village is decorated in green and yellow lanterns, and the citizens cheer and shout excitedly.

"There's a holiday for the Avatar," Aang says, smiling. "Who knew?"

It is almost difficult to be angered in the sight of so many happy people, but Ka manages it anyway. She keeps it masked with a face of indifference, because she knows of the peoples' attitudes towards the Minder, but having it thrown in her face in the form of a festival upsets her to no end.

And even though she keeps her anger hidden from view, she can never hide it from her Avatar, and he takes her hand and squeezes it in an attempt to soothe her irritation.

Turning their heads, they suddenly see a giant Avatar Kyoshi float roll down the street. Ka widens her eyes, and sees no sight of her Minder, neither on the float or near it.

(As if they were invisible.)

The next float to come is Avatar Roku. They are pulled out to the middle of the main square as the people cheer all around them. A man selling food comes by, and Sokka eagerly buys some.

"Having a huge festival in your honor is great," Aang says, "but frankly, it's just nice to be appreciated."

"And it's nice to appreciate their deep-fried festival food!" Sokka speaks up, before promptly shoving said food in his mouth.

Katara is the only one who seems to notice the significant lack of the Avatar's other half. She looks back and forth across the street, and then between Aang and Ka. "No Minder float?"

Ka just raises her eyebrows. "You seem to forget the world typically does not see me as important."

Katara just frowns, and looks back down the street to see a giant Aang float roll by. "Aang, look!"

"That's the biggest me I've ever seen!" Aang exclaims.

The float of Aang is pulled up beside the other two Avatar floats. Suddenly, a shirtless man carrying a torch comes running down the street.

"Now, a torch," Sokka marvels, "that's a nice prop. It's bright, dangerous," he sniffs the air, "smells manly. But I'm not sure I could carry it off."

Just as Sokka takes a bite of his food, the man with the torch does not stop running, nor does he make a move to run past the floats. With a loud cry, the runner dives through the effigy of Avatar Kyoshi, causing it to catch fire. Avatar Roku's statue is set ablaze, as well.

And as the floats are consumed by flames, burning down right before them, the village chants. "Down with the Avatar! Down with the Avatar!"

The man with the torch climbs onto a roof and tosses his torch right into the eye of Aang's float. The real Aang flinches and looks away for a moment, as Katara runs to the front and waterbends the water from two nearby pots onto the burning floats.

The villagers groan. "That party pooper's ruining Avatar Day!" one accuses.

Aang and Ka frown, and airbend themselves onto the shoulders of the Aang float. Holding onto the sides, they look down upon the villagers.

"That party pooper's our friend!" Aang shouts, and throws his hat aside to reveal his arrow. Ka pulls down her hood and removes the tie from her hair, flipping it over her shoulder.

The village leader gasps and points in shock. "It's the Avatar himself!"

"It's going to kill us with its awesome Avatar powers!"

Aang, aghast, raises his hand. "No, I'm not, I..." The villagers cower in fear when they see his hand, running for cover. Aang looks at his hand and then puts it behind his back sheepishly.

The village leader huffs and rises to his feet. "I suggest you leave!" he exclaims, and waves them away. "You're not welcome here, Avatar!"

Katara whirls around to face the mayor, her face mad with anger. "Why not?" she demands. "Aang and Ka help people!"

Aang and Ka land down beside them, breaking their fall with a tiny air blast.

"It's true!" Aang affirms. "We're on your side."

The village mayor looks between Aang and Ka, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. "Who's she?"

Ka sighs. "The Minder."

There's a pause, and then the gathering of villagers burst into simultaneous laughter, pointing and giggling at her in response. She furrows her eyebrows in confusion, eyes going wide. She and her friends all look at each other once, and then back at the villagers.

The leader wipes his eyes. "We don't _believe_ in the Minder," he says.

Ka goes silent. She suddenly feels extremely tired, and turns to Aang with a look. "Can we just skip this town?" she mutters.

Aang just shakes his head. "I won't leave until we prove we're on this village's side!"

"I find that hard to swallow," the mayor says, frowning deeply, "considering what you did to us in your past life! It was Avatar Kyoshi; she murdered our glorious leader, Chin the Great."

Aang blinks. "You think that I... _murdered_ someone?"

Another village steps forward, slurring over his words, "We used to be a great society before you killed our leader. Now look at us!"

Aang flinches backwards at his appearance, throwing his arms over his face.

Katara steps forward and puts her hands on her friends' shoulders. "Aang would never do something like that, and _neither_ would Ka. _No_ Avatar or Minder would." She shakes her head and points at the villagers. "And it's not fair for you all to question both his honor _and_ Ka's existence!"

"Let's tell her what we all think of the Avatar's _honor_ and his so-called _Minder!_ " one villager shouts, and turns around to shake his rear at them. The other villagers cheer in approval.

Aang frowns, and shouts over the sound of raging villagers, "Give me a chance to clear my name!"

The village leader smirks. "The only way to prove your innocence is to stand trial."

"I'll gladly stand trial!" Aang says confidently.

Ka nudges him. "Aang," she tries.

"You'll have to follow _all_ our rules. That includes paying bail."

"No problem."

* * *

Moments later, Aang and Ka are thrown behind bars with their hands and head stuck in large wooden panels. Aang for his aforementioned crime, and Ka for being a mere accomplice to Aang and an _Avatar supporter._

Turns out Chin Village does not, in fact, take Water Tribe money.

"So some people don't like you, big deal!" Sokka says, throwing his arms in the air. "There's a whole nation of firebenders who hate you. Now let's bust you out of here!"

Aang frowns, lowering his eyes. "I can't."

"Sure you can! A little," Sokka says, and theatrically jumps back and pretends to airbend by blowing air, slicing his hand across the air, " _swish-swish-swish!_ Airbending slice!" He immediately jumps back next to Katara and points towards the door. "And we're on our way!"

Aang and Ka just stare at him.

Katara sighs. "I think what _Master Swish_ is trying to say is that you're supposed to be out saving the world," she says. "You can't do that locked up in here."

"I can't do that with people thinking I'm a murderer either," Aang replies unhappily, "or that Ka doesn't even _exist._ I need you guys to help prove my innocence."

"Aang, it does not matter what they think of me," Ka tries, but the look Aang shoots her only makes her roll her eyes.

"How're we gonna do that?" Sokka asks. "The crime happened over three hundred years ago."

Aang raises his eyebrows. "That's okay, Sokka," he says cunningly. "For some reason, I thought you were an expert detective."

Sokka pauses. "Well," he murmurs, "I guess I _could_ be classified as such."

"Yeah!" Katara aids, putting a hand on Sokka's shoulder. "Back home, he was _famous_ for solving the mystery of the missing seal jerky."

"Everyone wanted to blame it on the polar leopard," Sokka begins bragging, "but I figured out it was Old Man Jarko wearing polar leopard-boots!" As he speaks, Aang moves his hands and changes his expression mockingly to make fun of him, as Katara holds a hand over her mouth to keep from bursting into laughter. "See, a real eight-hundred-pound polar leopard would have left _much_ deeper tracks! Okay, I guess I am _pretty_ good."

"So, you'll help us with our case?"

Sokka very obviously pretends to ponder about the question, a hand on his chin. "Fine!" he eventually says. "But I'm going to need some new props."

A moment later he comes back with a hat, a monocle attached to it. "I'm ready," he declares, and Katara bursts into giggles. "What?"

* * *

As Sokka and Katara leave to begin their investigation, Aang and Ka are left in the cell alone.

Well, not alone.

From the other side of the prison, a voice comes. "You got a bald head," he says, but only the outline of his body is visible, "some nice tattoos." The owner of the voice steps out of the shadows—a man with a strong build, vicious earrings pushed into both ears, with a large snake tattoo that runs from the top of his chest all the way down to his right arm. He starts charging towards the two of them, but he is suddenly stopped by a chain around his neck. "You're going to fit in _real_ well around here."

* * *

Despite the earlier, terrifying introduction, the prisoner and the rest of his friends are very kind and let them into their little circle. Aang ends up talking about Katara, like usual, while Ka sits beside him, the wooden panel set beside her.

"This girl you're talking about?" one of the prisoners says. "She'll come around. You just gotta hang in there."

Aang removes his head and hands from the panel, and places it on his lap. "You think so?"

"Sure."

"Yeah."

"You're a catch."

Doubtful, Aang frowns and rests his head on the board. "I don't know..." Ka pats his shoulder.

"Hey!" shouts the prisoner, catching his attention once more. "You're smart, handsome, funny. Not to mention you're the Avatar."

Aang smiles. "You guys are great."

One of the prisoners sniffles, tears streaming down his face. "Don't be afraid to tell her how you feel."

As he dries his tears and blows his nose, one of the other prisoners turns his attention to Ka, as if noticing her for the first time.

"You have such a noticeable appearance but fade into the background everywhere," he notes, sounding almost amazed, titling his head.

She blinks. "Is that meant to be a compliment?"

"It's a useful skill," says another prisoner, and he leans forward to rest his head on his hands. "So, is there anyone special in your life?"

Ka's mind immediately goes to the girl from the fortuneteller's village—Ela. She had kissed her, and Ka wonders if she will ever come across her again. But she is not really a constant, so she shakes her head in response.

"What about Zuko?" Aang suddenly asks.

Ka gives him an incredulous look. "What about him?"

"You saw him in the swamp," Aang says thoughtfully, his voice proving he is not trying to joke with her or make fun of her. "That _has_ to mean something."

Ka pauses. "I suppose," she murmurs. "He is no one special to me, however."

"Not yet," Aang offers.

"I do not believe he is all bad," Ka says, and crosses her arms. "I suppose we will find out, no?"

* * *

Sokka and Katara come back, after having apparently traveled back to Kyoshi Island and gathered evidence of their innocence. Something about boots, footprints, and some sort of painting that depicts Avatar Kyoshi in a different place the exact same time as her supposed crime.

"Honorable Mayor," Katara starts, confronting the mayor in the prison, "we've prepared a solid defense for the Avatar and the Minder. We did an investigation and found some very strong evidence."

Sokka smiles broadly and points at himself. Aang gives a nervous smile. Ka just stares blankly.

" _Evidence?_ " the mayor scoffs. "Hmph! That's not how our court system works."

Aang very nearly sighs. "Then how can I prove my innocence?"

"Simple," the mayor replies. "I say what happened, then you say what happened, and then _I_ decide who's right."

At his words, everyone gasps at once.

"That's why we call it justice. Because it's _just us,_ " the mayor gives, and leaves, laughing maniacally.

There is no chance to prove they are right.

* * *

They are brought to the amphitheater, where a statue of Chin the Great and a temple sit on the edge of a steep cliff. The villagers have all gathered to watch the trial, Sokka and Katara sitting at the front.

The mayor stands before his people, and begins his story, "Everyone loved Chin the Great because he was _so_ great. Then the Avatar showed up and _killed_ him, and that's how it happened."

He walks away with a large smile, and a guard walks up.

"The accused will now present its argument."

Sokka raises a hand to hide his voice as he whispers, "You guys can do it. Just remember the evidence."

Aang, unsurely, walks up before the villagers. Ka stands beside him, her neck beginning to strain from being shoved inside the wooden board.

"Ladies and gentlemen..." Aang starts unsurely, shifting his eyes left and right. "I'm about to tell you what _really_ happened. And I will prove it with facts! Fact number one!" He raises his finger to count along, but immediately blanks out. "Uhh..."

"Footprint," Ka whispers.

"Oh, yeah," Aang says. "You see... I have very large feet." He, in fact, does not. His feet are very small. The villagers stare blankly as he gestures to them. "Furthermore... your temple matches your statue. But, I was in a painting at sunset." He ends his speech with a big smile. "So, there you have it, I'm not guilty."

What a fool. Ka wishes she could slap her forehead as the villagers just stare, unimpressed and mostly confused. Sokka and Katara are giving very fake smiles and thumbs-up.

They are doomed.

* * *

"Looks like you did some serious shopping. But where did you get the money?"

Why does his uncle continue on pestering him with useless questions, instead of just _accepting_ what he has? "Do you like your new teapot?" Zuko simply asks instead of answering, lazily resting against the trunk of a tree.

"To be honest with you," Uncle starts, putting his fancy pot down, "the best tea tastes delicious whether it comes in a porcelain pot or a tin cup." He walks over to his nephew and squats down beside him, and Zuko clenches his jaw. "I know we've had some difficult times lately. We've had to struggle just to get by." He puts a hand on Zuko's shoulder, and he inhales sharply. He hates being reminded of just how _useless_ and _pitiful_ they are now. "But it's nothing to be ashamed of." _Yes it is._ "There is a simple honor in poverty."

"There's no honor for me without the Avatar and the Minder." And it's true. He can _never_ go home without them. He is a failure of a son and a leader.

"Zuko..." his uncle sighs. "Even if you _did_ capture the Avatar and the Minder, I'm not so sure it would solve our problems. Not now."

"Then there is no hope at all." Zuko turns away from his uncle, not wanting any more of his pitiful words or gaze. He moves to stand, but Uncle pushes him down by the shoulders and forcibly sits him down.

"No, Zuko!" he exclaims. "You must _never_ give in to despair. Allow yourself to slip down that road and you surrender to your lowest instincts. In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself. _That_ is the meaning of inner strength."

Zuko looks at his uncle for a few moments, processing his words. But then Uncle gives him that sad look again, and Zuko abruptly shoves himself free from his uncle's grasp and heads off into the forest where no one can look at him with pity anymore.

* * *

They have only one more idea.

Aang and Ka are dressed in Avatar Kyoshi's and Minder Kazuki's traditional clothing, hastily painted in their respective makeup and given their respective weapons.

"Mayor Tong," Katara calls when they are ready, "I'd like for the court to hear one last testimony."

"I've already told you," the mayor says, "it's just me and the accused. You can't call any witnesses!"

Katara takes a deep breath. "This isn't just any witness," she says dramatically. "I'm going to call..." She spreads her arms wide. "... Avatar Kyoshi and her Minder themselves!"

The villagers whisper and murmur among themselves as the guard escorts Aang and Ka to the front. The mayor stares skeptically, furrowing his eyebrows, as Katara sits back down and bites her lip nervously.

"This is a mockery of Chin Law!" the mayor shouts.

"Please!" Katara pleads. "If you could just wait one more second, I'm sure Kyoshi and Kazuki will be here!"

In one last-ditch attempt, Aang hides his face behind one of Avatar Kyoshi's fans, peeking over it. "Hey, everybody!" he says in a horribly higher-pitched voice. "Avatar Kyoshi here!"

Oh, how the Spirits must mock them. Ka, finally, slaps her forehead in exasperation.

"This is ridiculous!" Mayor Tong declares, and walks over towards them, pointing at the two of them. "For the murder of Chin the Great, this court finds the Avatar—"

Suddenly, a tornado of earth surrounds Aang and Ka, and the sky darkens the entirety of the area. When the tornado disappears and the winds stop, Avatar Kyoshi and Minder Kazuki are left standing there, looking fierce and tall in all their glory.

" _We killed Chin the Conqueror._ " Their simultaneous voices echo across the villagers, and they can almost see a vision of every wrongdoing Chin had done. " _A horrible tyrant, Chin was expanding his army to all corners of the continent. When they came to the neck of the peninsula where we lived, he demanded our immediate surrender. We warned him that we would not sit passively while he took our home. But he did not back down._ "

The villagers stare in awe. The next vision comes—Kyoshi and Kazuki tower over the small conqueror. He takes a fighting stance, and he is only met with a powerful gust of wind from the two.

" _On that day, we split from the mainland._ "

The next vision—they enter the Shared State, and, in fact, split the land in two by ripping the earth apart and separating it with lava. They airbend the new island away from him, disappearing into the distance. Chin the Conqueror screams in rage as the rocks crumble below his feet. When he refuses to move, he plummets to his death, and the vision fades from their eyes.

" _We created Kyoshi Island so our people could be safe from invaders,_ " the two finish, and they are engulfed by the sand tornado once more.

The darkness is lifted, and when the wind dissipates, Aang and Ka collapse to the ground. Their friends immediately rush to their aid.

"So, what just happened?" Aang asks, confused and dazed.

Katara winces. "Uh... you kind of confessed. Sorry."

The mayor shakily rises to his feet. "And I find you guilty! Bring out the Wheel of Punishment!"

* * *

He must leave. He cannot stay here, he has to be alone.

"Uncle," he says, walking back towards the cave, where his uncle prepares a bag of supplies. "I thought a lot about what you said.

"You did?" Uncle says. "Good, good."

Zuko swallows thickly. He almost hates disappointing his uncle, but he cannot stay here any longer. "It's helped me realizes something. We no longer have anything to gain by traveling together." When Uncle doesn't say anything, he continues. "I need to find my own way."

Uncle only bows his head. Zuko stares for a moment, something unusual swelling up in his chest, and then moves to grab his backpack and walk away before he can be the victim of any more pitiful and sad looks. He has had enough of that.

"Wait!"

Zuko turns, flinching when he sees his uncle handing him the reins of the ostrich horse. After a moment of hesitation, he mounts it, looks at his uncle one last time, and leaves before he can change his mind.

 _This is a good idea. This is a good idea._

He repeats it in his head until it is nothing but static.

* * *

"The accused will now spin the Wheel of Punishment to determine his sentence."

Ka, despite being locked up beside Aang, has no say in determining her sentence. She assumes she will be given whatever Aang receives, despite the village not even believing in her existence.

(She thought, after seeing Minder Kazuki, they would, but they say nothing in regards to her, so she simply accepts it.)

"I said I would face justice," Aang says, looking towards his friends, "so I will." He gives the wheel a good spin, and Ka bites her lip.

"Come on, torture machine!"

"Eaten by bears!"

"Razor pit!"

"Community service!" Katara begs, a comparable difference to the rest of the village's calls. " _Please_ stop on community service!"

The wheel begins to slow down, and eventually comes to a halt on the image of a man sitting in a boiling pot, a large frown on his face.

"Looks like it's _boiled in oil,_ " announces the monotone guard.

The villagers cheer loudly, while Aang and Ka give each other horrified looks. Sokka and Katara bite their nails nervously. Before anyone else makes another move, a lit bomb suddenly bounces before them and detonates into the temple. The blast makes the entire amphitheater shake, and everyone shields their faces and bodies from the blast.

The soldiers who had attacked them earlier—the Rough Rhinos—stand before the villagers.

"We've come to claim this village for the Fire Lord!" the leader announces. "Now show me your leader so I may..." One of the soldiers swings his words, slicing through the statue of Chin the Great, effortlessly sending it crumbling down. "... dethrone him!"

"That's him over there!"

The mayor in question squeals and runs to hide behind the wheel. "You, Avatar, Minder, do something!"

"Gee," Aang says apathetically, "I'd love to help, but I'm supposed to be boiled in oil."

"And I am far too busy not existing," Ka drawls.

The mayor groans and tips the wheel so it rests on a picture of a sweeping man. "There, community service!" he shouts. "Now both of you serve our community and get rid of those rhinos!"

Aang and Ka smirk, and the two of them jump out of their costumes to face the Rough Rhinos. One of them readies his weapons, but the two of them use their respective fans to spin out of the rhino's path and lift the solider from his saddle. Ka lands on the ground and bends the water from a nearby barrel to shove him off the cliff.

They turn to face the leader, whose eye twitches in anger.

"Rough Rhinos, to the town!"

They begin burning the village down and destroying it building by building. Aang, Ka, and their friends quickly incapacitate each of them, unfortunately destroying half of the village in the process. They do, however, get Sokka's beloved boomerang back once all is said and done.

And that night, they send fireworks off into the sky in celebration.

"From now on," the mayor announces, "we'll celebrate a _new_ Avatar-Minder Day in honor of the day Avatar Aang and Minder Ka saved us from the Rough Rhino Invasion."

They each hold a bowl. Ka looks down into it, trying to mask her pleasure of finally being recognized by these exhausting people.

"What is this?" Sokka asks, pointing to the contents in his bowl.

"That's our new festival food!" Mayor Tong exclaims. "Un-fried dough. May we eat it and be reminded of how on this day the Avatar and the Minder were _not_ boiled in oil."

Ka picks up one of the Aang-shaped piece of dough questioningly. In return, Aang holds up one that is most likely supposed to be shaped like her.

"Happy Avatar-Minder Day, everyone!" Katara says unsurely, before uncertainly chewing the dough down. She looks confused by the taste, and looks down at her bowl as the dough droops from her mouth.

Sokka stares at the dough in his hands. "This is by far the worst town we've ever been to."

"Agreed," Ka says, and promptly dumps one of the dough-cookies into her mouth.

* * *

Gaoling is the next town they stop at. Ka can only hope it is better than the last.

As Sokka debates between buying an expensive, fancy bag and saving their money, Aang, Ka, and Katara wait down the street for him. A citizen turns towards them, and hands out a flyer.

"Psst, psst!" he says. "Hey, you kids love earthbending? You like... throwing rocks?" He holds the flyer before them. "Then check out Master Yu's Earthbending Academy."

They take the flyer and the man walks away, and the three peer at the words inscribed onto the page. It depicts an academy for, well, earthbending, describing itself as being the best in the world.

Aang turns it around. "Look! There's a coupon on the back! The first lesson is free."

"Who knows?" Katara says. "This Master Yu could be the earthbending teacher you've been looking for."

Ka opens her mouth to voice her doubt, but just then Sokka joins them, wearing the green bag he was so hellbent on not buying.

They collectively decide it does not hurt to try the first lesson. The two of them are dressed in some Earth Kingdom outfit and hat. Most of the other students are younger children, sporting serious expressions and fighting stances. The first lesson consists of being hit by rocks they cannot bend themselves yet. They eventually leave, their bodies aching, and find out about some earthbending tournament from two of Master Yu's students.

So, later that night, at the location of Earth Rumble VI, they sit in the front row, very nearly get hit by a giant boulder, and watch the announcer for the night rise from the ground in a pillar of earth and rile up the crowd.

"Welcome to Earth Rumble VI! I am your host, Xin Fu!"

Katara sighs and turns the other way, crossing her legs and picking at her nails. "This is just going to be a bunch of guys chucking rocks at each other, isn't it?"

Sokka grins. "That's what I paid for."

The host continues, "The rules are simple. Just knock the other guy out of the ring, and you win!" He leaps up to a podium above the ring, and a bell rings somewhere. "Round one: The Boulder vs. The Big Bad Hippo!"

The Boulder is a large, muscled man with dark skin. The Hippo is a pale, heavyset man. They are both wearing very little.

"Listen up, Hippo!" The Boulder shouts in what Ka can only describe as a macho tone. "You may be big, but you ain't bad! The Boulder's gonna win this in a landslide!"

"Hippo... _mad!_ "

The rest of the fights end in rocks and bruises, with The Boulder gaining all the wins. Aang and Ka agree he would be an awful earthbending teacher—he seems to listen to nothing but his muscles and the sound of screaming fans (including Sokka). Opponent after opponent gets crushed by The Boulder, being slammed into the rocky earth below.

Eventually, Xin Fu stops the battle to throw his hands in the air and announce, "Now, the moment you've all been waiting for. The Boulder versus your champion... the Blind Bandit!"

A small girl with black hair holds a large belt over her head, looking off distantly towards the crowd that cheers after her. When the spotlight on her dies down, two female assistants help her in taking the belt and removing her cape, before walking off.

"She can't really be blind," Katara says, squinting. "It's just part of her character, right?"

Even in the distance, Ka can see the faint look of the Blind Bandit's milky-green eyes behind her hair. "I believe she is..." she says softly.

Sokka, on the other hand, is still lost in the hyperactivity of the crowd around them. "I think she is... _goin' down!_ "

From the arena, The Boulder confidently slams his foot against the ground, throwing up some dust. The Blind Bandit only looks on, her face blank.

"The Boulder feels conflicted about fighting a young blind girl."

In response, the Blind Bandit points towards him and grins. "Sounds to me like you're _scared,_ Boulder!"

There's a pause. The Boulder blinks a few times. "The Boulder's over his conflicted feelings, and now he's ready to bury you in a rock-alanche!"

"Whenever you're ready, _The Pebble!_ " She tosses her head back and laughs.

Ka immediately tenses. Her laugh is the exact same as the girl in the white dress she and Aang had seen in the swamp, and she knows Aang is thinking the same when the two look at each other and share a wide-eyed look.

"It's on!"

And so they fight. The Boulder takes a step forward, and as soon as his heel hits the ground, the Blind Bandit slides her foot forward, opening her arms out and staring straight ahead of her. She swings her right foot in an arc towards the ground, and her strike sends a shock wave through the arena floor. The Boulder's foot meets the shock wave just as he puts it on the ground, and it sends him into a perfect split. He screams in pain up towards the ceiling, and the Blind Bandit wastes no time ejecting him from the ring with a sharp strike.

The Blind Bandit gives a satisfied smile once she hears the cheers of the crowd, and Ka blinks a few times in amazement.

"Your winner, and still the champion, the Blind Bandit!"

"How did she do that?" Katara gasps, her eyes wide and her entire body leaning forward.

"She waited..." Aang and Ka reply simultaneously, their expressions brightening, "and listened."

Xin Fu jumps from his platform and lands beside the Blind Bandit, holding up a small green bag in his hand. "To make things a little more interesting, I'm offering up this sack of gold pieces to anyone who can defeat the Blind Bandit!" There is only silence, as no one steps up into the ring. "What? No one dares to face her?"

Aang suddenly stands up, and jumps down from his seat. "I will!"

Ka sighs, burying her face in her hands as Xin Fu jumps back towards his platform so the battle can begin.

"Go Aang! Avenge The Boulder!" Sokka shouts. Ka slaps his arm with a frown.

"Do people really want to see _two_ little girls fighting out here?" the Blind Bandit taunts as Aang walks up across from her.

The audience oohs in response, and Aang puts his hands up. "I don't really want to fight you. I want to talk to you."

"Boo! No talking!"

Katara slaps her brother and puts her hands on her hips. "Don't boo at him!"

Aang takes a step, and the Blind Bandit stomps the ground with the side of her foot. A large rock grows out of the ground underneath him, and he jumps to the side before landing on the ground softly behind her.

Whirling around, the Bandit frowns. "Somebody's a little light on his feet!" she shouts. "What's your fighting name? The Fancy Dancer? " Aang grins, but she only launches another pillar into the air. This time, Aang does not land immediately, and the Bandit narrows her eyes as she looks across the arena. "Where'd you go...?"

The moment Aang lands on the ground, his toes barely brushing the earth, the Bandit immediately whirls around and launches a rock at him. However, to stop it, Aang airbends it away and inadvertently bends the Blind Bandit away with it. The crowd is silent in shock for a few moments, before bursting into loud cheers. Sokka, Ka, and Katara rush down from their seats to the arena, and Ka runs after her Avatar, who is rushing down a large flight of stairs.

"Please, listen!" she hears him call to the Blind Bandit, who is angrily walking away from him. "My friend and I need an earthbending teacher, and I think it's supposed to be you!"

"Whoever you are," the Bandit says, not even turning around, "just leave me alone." She earthbends a doorway and walks through it, closing it with a motion of her hands.

Aang and Ka reach the wall too late, however, and have no choice but to walk back towards the arena. Sokka and Katara are waiting for them, and Xin Fu comes down with the belt and bag of gold. Eagerly hugging the host, Sokka grins as he takes the prizes, and puts an arm around Aang's shoulder.

"Way to go, champ!"

Aang and Ka look at each other once before back at the ground, and Ka can feel her Avatar's sorrow and guilt despite him not saying a thing.

* * *

The next day, on the search for the Blind Bandit, they come across the two boys who had given them the location of Earth Rumble VI. When they ask for the Blind Bandit, they get nothing, but upon asking for a girl in a white dress, they discover that their best bet would be to visit the Beifong family.

So, they find the Beifong estate, a beautiful building with lovely gardens and ponds surrounding it. The gate reveals a flying boar crest emblazoned on it. When they enter the courtyard over the wall, watching for any sight of guards, part of the ground suddenly lifts up, sending them flying into the air. Aang, Ka, and Katara land in a rose bush, while Sokka slams painfully onto the solid path.

When they open their eyes, they are faced with the sight of the Blind Bandit, her hair all tied up and dressed in the white gown from their vision.

"What are you _doing_ here, Twinkle Toes?" she demands.

"How did you know it was me?" is all Aang replies to, airbending himself free from the bush.

"Don't answer to Twinkle Toes," Sokka whines, "it's not manly!"

"You're the one whose bag matches his belt!"

"How did you find me?" the Blind Bandit continues, narrowing her eyes.

"Well," Aang begins, "a crazy king told us we had to find an earthbender who listens to the earth. And then we had a vision in a magic swamp, and—"

"What Aang is trying to say is," Katara butts in helpfully, "he's the Avatar, and Ka is his Minder. And if they don't master earthbending soon, they won't be able to defeat the Fire Lord."

The Bandit shoves a hand in her face. "Not my problem," she says, and begins walking away. "Now, get out of here, or I'll call the guards.

Sokka frowns. "Look, we all have to do our part to win this war, and yours is to teach Aang and Ka earthbending."

There is a pause, and then the Bandit dons a scared expression and shouts, "Guards! Guards, help!"

They run off to hide behind a rooftop, and watch as two guards run up to her immediately.

"Toph, what happened?" one asks.

"I... thought I heard someone," the Bandit, apparently named Toph, replies in a small voice. "I got scared."

"You know your father doesn't want you wandering the grounds without supervision, Toph."

She is escorted away, and the group watches her leave. Suddenly getting a devious idea, Ka nudges Aang and whispers her plan into his ear. He grins, and sinks down the rooftop.

* * *

They are treated as a guest of honor at the Beifong home, even being treated to a delicious feast. They learn that Toph's parents are unaware of her amazing earthbending ability, and treat her as if she were a helpless, porcelain doll. She is only taught the basics of earthbending by her master, but knows far much more. Ka feels something akin to awe when she looks at her.

Eventually, dinner is ruined when Toph sends a fissure towards them hard enough to send their faces flying into the soup. Ka looks up, her now-wet hair sticking to her face, as Aang and Toph both yell at each other from across the table.

And so, later at night they are escorted to a guest room. Toph finds them, startling the both of them with her sudden presence. They head out to the yard to talk privately.

"Even though I was born blind," Toph begins, balancing on the side of a bridge, "I've never had a problem seeing." She jumps down, and wiggles her toes against the ground. "I see with earthbending. It's kind of like seeing with my feet. I feel the vibrations in the earth, and I can see where everything is. You... that tree... even those ants."

Aang takes a moment to look around the ground, and then smiles at Toph. "That's amazing."

"It is truly remarkable," Ka says honestly, her mind racking with reasons for how such a feat could be performed, and even learned.

"My parents don't understand," Toph then sighs, and walks towards the wall that traps her inside. "They've always treated my like I was helpless."

"Is that why you became the Blind Bandit?" Aang asks.

"Yeah."

"Why stay where you are not happy?" Ka asks, furrowing her eyebrows.

Toph frowns, as if the answer to her question is obvious. "They're my _parents._ Where else am I supposed to go?"

Ka knows much of parents. You are never required to respect them, or love them, if they do not give you reasons to do so.

"You could come with us," Aang suggests immediately.

Toph sighs, and turns her head to the side. "Yeah," she murmurs. "You guys get to go wherever you want. No one telling you what to do, that's the life. It's just not _my_ life." Suddenly, her eyes get wide, and she kneels to put one hand against the ground. "We're being ambushed!"

In their attempt to run, they are suddenly cut off by three metal cages trapping them inside from above. The Hippo jumps onto them and stomps them into the earth, and Xin Fu stares at them from outside the cages.

"I think you kids owe me some money."

* * *

They are taken to the Earth Rumble VI location, hung up high above the air in their cages. The Boulder and Xin Fu guard them from above, awaiting their ransom money they "stole".

"You think you're so tough?" Toph demands from her cage, pointing somewhere below here. "Why don't you come up here so I can snap that grin off your face?"

"I'm not smiling," Xin Fu says dryly.

"Toph!" comes the shout of Toph's father, and the group, including her father and Master Yu, run up towards the arena.

"Here's your money," Sokka says, setting the bag of gold on the ground. "Now let them go."

Master Yu earthbends the money across the ring, and Xin Fu kneels down to pick it up. He unfurls the bag, digs through it a bit, and then nods, signaling for the cages to be let down. However, only Toph's cage lowers, and she is released. Her father rushes to her side, and they start to exit the arena.

"What about Aang and Ka?" Katara asks.

Xin Fu smirks as he holds out the Fire Nation wanted poster. "I think the Fire Nation will pay a hefty price for the Avatar and his Minder. Now, get out of my ring."

All of the Earth Rumble VI fighters leap from the ceiling and out from under the ground, leering towards them threateningly.

From their hanging cages, Aang and Ka look at each other once with sad expressions and then back down towards their friends.

"Go," Ka urges.

"We'll be okay," Aang says.

Their friends eventually run after Toph, and convince her to defeat fighters and rescue them. She does, singlehandedly, and amazingly, to the awe of her master and the horror of her father. Their cages are eventually freed from where they hang on the ceiling, landing on the ground and being broken open by their friends. After all the fighters and Xin Fu are defeated, the group runs up to her, and they all leave.

And so, Toph faces her parents. They sit at their respective seats (more like thrones, in Ka's opinion) and stare down at their daughter with unreadable expressions.

"Dad," Toph begins. "I know it's probably hard for you to see me this way. But the obedient little helpless blind girl that you think I am just isn't me." She smiles brightly. "I love fighting. I love being an earthbender, and I'm really, really good at it! I know I've kept my life secret from you, but you were keeping me secret from the whole world. You were doing it to protect me, but I'm twelve years old and I've never had a real friend. So, now that you see who I really am, I hope it doesn't change the way you feel about me."

"Of course it doesn't change the way I feel about you, Toph," her father says immediately, curling his fingers underneath his chin. "It's made me realize something."

"It has?" Toph asks hopefully.

"Yes," her father replies, and proceeds to crush her dreams with one sentence. "I've let you have far too much freedom." Her mother nods in approval at her husband's words as he speaks. "From now on, you'll be cared for and guarded twenty-four hours a day."

"But, Dad!"

"We're doing this for your own good, Toph," her mother declares.

Her father points towards the door. "Please escort the Avatar, the Minder, and their friends out. They are no longer welcome here."

As the guards push them out the door, Aang says, "I'm sorry, Toph."

"I'm sorry too," Toph says back, her voice shaky and heavy. "Goodbye, Aang, Ka." Just before they disappear out of sight, Ka sees a tear stream down her face, and feels like crying herself.

They pack up on Appa moments later, preparing to depart to find yet another earthbending teacher.

"Don't worry," Katara says, sensing their worry, "we'll find you a teacher. There are plenty of amazing earthbenders out there."

Aang frowns. Ka matches his expression. "None like her," they murmur.

Just as Aang takes the reins, the sound of running approaches. Turning their heads, they see Toph, panting as she rushes after them, a bag slung over her shoulders and dressed in her Blind Bandit outfit.

"Toph," Ka says.

"What are you doing here?" Aang asks.

"My dad changed his mind," Toph replies when she comes to a stop beside them. "He said I was free to travel the world."

It's an obvious lie. Sokka and Katara share a look.

"Well," Sokka says, "we'd better get out of here, before your dad changes his mind again."

"Good idea."

"You're going to be a great teacher, Toph," Aang says sincerely.

"Speaking of which," Toph says suddenly, "I want to show you something."

"Okay!" Aang jumps down from Appa, but as soon as his feet touch the ground Toph is sending a fissure through the ground that ends in a rock spike that sends Aang flying into a tree.

" _Now_ we're even," she affirms, and then lifts her arm. "Um, I'll take the belt back."

Sokka frowns as he removes the belt, and carelessly tosses it down. It hits her in the head and knocks her down, and she groans from her place on the ground.

As if suddenly remembering her lack of sight, Sokka winces. "Sorry."

Aang falls from the tree beside her, and Ka puts a hand over her mouth. Oh, what adventures await them.

* * *

Traveling alone is a lot easier said than done.

Zuko is hungry, he is thirsty, he is tired, and so is his horse. He falls off not once, not twice, but three times upon passing out from said afflictions. He ends up having to steal food from people just to survive. He ends up giving most of his water to his ostrich horse.

And now, the time has come where he either needs to steal or find some food, soon. Unfortunately, the place he has come across is barre and hot and lacking in life. He comes across a couple sitting by a dead tree, and prepares to steal.

Then he sees the very obvious bump on the woman. He could never. He is not that cruel.

(At least, he likes to believe he isn't.)

Eventually, he comes across a small, poor town. The supplies he buys ends up getting stolen by Earth Kingdom soldiers when he protects a child from getting caught throwing eggs at them. It proves to be in his favor in the end, when the child introduces himself as Li and takes him back to his farmhouse, where he and his ostrich horse are both fed and given places to sleep for the night.

(He cannot stop dreaming about his past. His sister, his old friends, Mai, his mother. And, his father too. Zuko wonders if he will ever see the Fire Nation palace again.)

He makes friends with the boy, which is a foolish move. Zuko knows this. And despite this, he teaches the boy how to use broad swords and gives him his dagger when he leaves.

But then the boy, Li, is taken by soldiers. He shouldn't go, it's not his problem—except it _is,_ and he ends up revealing that he's a _firebender_ and he's the _prince_ when he tries to save him.

The villagers hate him, they scream at him, telling him to leave, and so does the boy. Li hates him, despite everything, won't even _look_ at him.

His scar burns when he leaves the village. Zuko has not felt like crying in a long, long time. Not since his mother left, not since his father burned him, not since his first night alone at sea, when he was cursed to find the Avatar and the Minder for three, long, long years.

(He doesn't cry. He tells himself, _don't cry, it's foolish._ )

(He cries anyway. He wants to go home.)

* * *

"Hey," Toph says when she jumps from her place on Appa, wriggling her toes in the mat of fur covering the ground, "you guys picked a great campsite. The grass is so soft."

"That's not grass," Sokka says, his voice displeased. "Appa's shedding."

"Oh, gross!" Katara raises her foot and groans.

Ka takes a sleeping bag from Aang and sets it on the ground, before turning to watch Aang jump down from his bison.

"That's not gross," Aang says cheerfully, "it's just a part of spring! You know, rebirth, flowers blooming, and Appa gets a new coat."

"Ah, the beauty of spring," Katara says sarcastically.

A butterfly suddenly lands on Ka's nose, and she flinches back in shock, before pausing to take the butterfly onto her finger and stare at it. Another butterfly, this time blue, comes to land on her shoulder. She wonders if she smells enough like a flower to be treated this way, and she blinks when she feels someone's eyes on her.

"Well, _Goddess,_ " drawls Toph, "aren't you just one with nature?"

"I am no goddess," Ka sighs as the butterflies fly away from her.

"Well, Ka _is_ a spirit," Sokka murmurs, though being a spirit is no way comparable to being a goddess. Ka just rolls her eyes.

Appa sneezes all of a sudden, releasing a thick cloud of fur across the five of them. Katara waves her arms around in disgust, coughing and brushing the fur off of her.

"It's not that bad, Katara," Sokka says, bending over and moving his hands quickly. He whirls around to reveal a thick wig made of fur, done up in a towering beehive. "It makes a great wig!"

"And a great beard!" Aang exclaims, wearing, well, a beard of fur. He and Sokka turn to each other and laugh and point, nearly doubling over with laughter.

Katara sighs and brushes the fur off her sleeves. "I'm just glad we finally have another girl in the group, because you two are disgusting."

Ka raises her eyebrow.

"Excuse me," Toph says, her hands behind her back as she walks up from behind the two boys, "does anyone have a razor? Because I have some—" She raises her arms above her head to reveal stuffed fur up her sleeves. "—hairy pits!"

They laugh, and Aang's sneeze causes him to fly into Appa's leg and onto the ground. The laughter is so contagious that even Katara is pulled into it. Ka just sighs at the sight of her friends. What a bunch of nerds.

* * *

The happy atmosphere leaves when night falls.

Toph is lazily slumped against a rock, chewing a piece of wheat between her teeth, as Ka and the rest of her friends set up their camp for the night. It reminds Ka of Jet, and she wonders what he is doing now, since his plans to destroy a village were thwarted. It seems like ages ago. Ka has changed so much since then.

"So, Toph," Katara says, deciding to take her chance in approaching her, "usually when setting up camp, we try to divide up the work."

Toph shrugs. "Hey, don't worry about me. I'm good to go."

Katara bites her lip. "Well, actually, what I'm trying to say is," she tries, gesturing her arms as she speaks, "some of us might fetch water, while someone else might set up the fire pit, or put up the tent." Momo flies over and drops berries into her hands, and she smiles. "Even Momo does his fair share."

"Katara, I'm _fine,_ " Toph urges freely. "I can carry my own weight. I don't need a fire, I've already collected my own food, and look," she earthbends a rock tent over her body, "my tent's all set up."

Katara frowns. "Well, that's great for you, but we still need to finish—"

"I don't understand what's the problem here!"

Deciding not to get into it, Katara waves her hands dismissively and walks away. "Never mind."

Hours later, their interactions only get more irritating, and soon they end up falling asleep. Toph suddenly startles awake and runs out of her earth tent.

"There's something coming toward us!"

"What is it?" Aang asks, rising from his place on the ground. Ka rubs the sleepiness from her eyes.

Toph lowers herself and presses her hand to the ground. "It feels like an avalanche," she says thoughtfully, "but also _not_ an avalanche."

Sokka crosses his arms, and sarcastically speaks up, "Your powers of perception are frightening."

"Should we leave?" Katara asks.

"Better safe than sorry," Aang agrees, and they promptly pack up and fly off.

In the distance, a cloud of smoke billows towards them, moving at a seemingly fast pace. They fly for a bit, very nearly falling asleep on Appa's saddle before landing on a smooth surface of a terrain of mountains.

Toph leaps off the bison and lies on the ground with a happy sigh. "Ah, land sweet land!" She rises and stretches her arms above her head. "See you guys in the morning."

"Actually, can you help us unload?"

Toph stops in place. "Really? You need _me_ to help unload Sokka's funky-smelling sleeping bag?"

At that moment, Aang hands Sokka said sleeping bag. He pauses before giving a sniff, and then immediately falls backward from the mere stench. Ka winces.

"Well, yeah," Katara replies curtly. "That and everything else. You're a part of our team now, and—"

"Look!" Toph points a finger at her with an irritated look. "I didn't ask _you_ to help unload my stuff!" She turns and starts to stomp away. "I'm carrying my _own_ weight."

"That's not the point," Katara says angrily, and runs after Toph when she walks away. "Ever since you joined us, you've been nothing but selfish and unhelpful!"

Oh. A fight? Ka wonders what to do to stop it, and she shares a frown with Aang.

" _What?_ " Toph scoffs. "Look here, _sugar queen,_ I gave up _everything_ I had so that I could teach Aang and Ka earthbending. So don't you talk to me about being _selfish!_ " She finishes her words by angrily sitting on the ground and bending a tent of earth over herself.

" _Sugar queen!?_ " Katara repeats furiously, and Toph only bends the door over the tent. "D-did you just slam the door in my face!? How can you be so _infuriating!?_ "

The others watch from several feet away, as Katara bangs her fists against the door of the earth tent and kicks at the walls with her feet, shouting unintelligibly.

"Should we do something?" Aang asks.

"Hey," Sokka says, clearly amused, "I'm just enjoying the show."

Deciding to take matters into his own hands, Aang approaches Katara with his hands up. "Okay, okay, you both need to calm down."

"Both?" Katara whirls around, her expression crazed and her eyes bloodshot with rage. " _I'M COMPLETELY CALM!_ "

Aang blinks. "I... can see that." He awkwardly backs off, and Ka pats his back soothingly.

* * *

Later that night, they lie in their respective sleeping bags, with the exception of Toph in her earth tent.

"The stars sure are beautiful tonight," Katara says loudly, her tone mocking. "Too bad you can't see them, Toph!"

Low blow. Ka cannot help but think the fissure that sends Katara flying into the air is well-deserved. She lands on top of her brother, and he shoves her away with an annoyed groan.

"Hey, how's a guy supposed to sleep with all this yelling and _earthquaking?_ "

Toph suddenly reopens her tent and rushes out. "That thing is back!"

Sokka lets out a loud groan. "Well, how far away is it?" He pulls the covers of his sleeping bag over his head. "Maybe we can close our eyes just for a _few_ minutes."

Looking up, Ka sees heavy smoke billowing from behind the nearby treetops. "I am not so sure that is possible..."

They pack up as quickly as they can and soar away from the mountains and the smoke. Looking back over the saddle, the group observes the strange machine that chases after them endlessly.

"Seriously," Katara says, "what _is_ that thing?"

Toph tightens her grip on the hole in Appa's saddle. "And _how_ does it keep finding us?"

Aang tightens his grips on the reins and frowns. "I don't know," he says, his voice a little louder over the sound of Sokka's snoring. "But this time, I'm going to make sure we lose it."

They fly for even longer this time, until they reach a flat-surfaced rock bed in between two mountain ridges. Appa lands on his side, throwing everyone and their supplies out of his saddle. Ka does not even get up for a few moments, and then eventually walks over beside Aang and lays down.

"Okay, forget about setting camp," Sokka says, crawling along the ground in his sleeping bag like a worm. "I'm finding the softest pile of dirt and going to sleep."

Katara pulls her sleeping bag under her head as a pillow, and turns on her side. "That's good because Toph wasn't going to help anyway!"

"Oh," Toph drawls, "I didn't realize _baby_ still needed someone to tuck her in bed."

"Come on, guys," Aang pleads, pulling the top part of his shirt over his head, "there's something after us and we don't even know what _or_ who it is."

"It could be Zuko," Katara suggests thoughtfully and, huh, Ka didn't even think about that. "We haven't seen him since the North Pole."

"Who's Zuko?" Toph asks.

With his face pressed into the ground, Sokka speaks up, "Oh, just some angry freak with a ponytail who's tracked us all over the world."

 _Angry freak?_ Ka glances at Aang and shrugs. He just sighs back.

"What's wrong with ponytails, Ponytail?" Katara says mockingly, resting on one of her elbows.

Sokka points to his top-knot. "This is a warrior's _wolf tail._ "

"Well, it certainly tells the other warriors that you're fun and perky!"

"Anyway," Sokka deadpans, ignoring his sister, "whoever's chasing us, they couldn't have followed us here, so now would everyone just _shh?_ "

A moment later, Momo hops onto his sleeping bag and chitters, jumping up and down.

Sokka puts his finger up. "No, Momo, _shhh._ Sleepy time."

Momo hops off of him and onto Ka. She jumps up in shock, and wraps her arms around the frightened lemur. He raises his ears up in alert, and Aang rises to look up.

"Oh, don't tell me," Sokka groans.

"That's impossible," Aang says. "There's no way they could have tracked us."

"They are doing it somehow..." Ka says thoughtfully, and purses her lips.

"I can feel it with my own two feet!" Toph exclaims, jumping upright.

Aang and Ka run to the edge of the cliff, and Momo moves to settle in Ka's hair as he shakes from the sight of the smoke. It rises from the far end of the rocky pathway that leads to their makeshift camp, and Ka sees the source—a tank train coming at a fast pace.

"Let's get out of here," Katara suggests nervously.

"Maybe we should face them," Aang and Ka say in unison, to the surprise of Toph—she has never seen them do it before.

"Find out who they are," Ka continues.

"Who knows," Aang then says, "maybe they're friendly."

Sokka sighs, "Always the optimist..."

The tank train eventually slows to a halt, and the door to one compartment opens. A burst of steam emerges, and from that steam comes three mongoose lizards. Riding those three beasts are the three girls from Omashu, including Princess Azula. They waste no time rushing towards the group.

"It's those three girls from Omashu!" Katara shouts.

The group immediately assumes fighting stances, and Toph smirks, "We can take them. Four on three!"

Sokka looks over. "Actually Toph, there's five of us."

"Oh," Toph says sheepishly, shrugging, "I'm sorry, I didn't count you. You know, no bending and all."

" _I CAN STILL FIGHT!_ "

"Okay, four on three plus Sokka."

Sokka's face distorts with rage as he reluctantly turns back to the matter at hand. Toph earthbends three columns in the pathway in order to block them, but the lizards only effortlessly leap over the pillars and continue on their way. The group stares in shock, but Sokka wastes no time in putting his boomerang away.

"Well, we wanted to find out who they were and we found out," he says, turning on his heel and running back towards Appa. "Now let's get out of here."

Toph bends a ginormous rock wall in front of the three girls as her friends flee. Princess Azula circles her arms around each other, generating lightning from her fingertips. Ka watches in morbid fascination and fear as she fires the bolt at the wall, blowing a hole in it. The lizards clamber through the hole, and Toph does not move for a moment, clearly in shock. The darker-looking girl swings her arm, releasing a flurry of knives from her sleeve. Toph launches herself off a pillar of earth, narrowly avoiding the knives, and Ka stands up to catch her before she can fall anywhere else.

"Appa, yip-yip!"

Appa takes off the moment the princess fires a blast of blue fire. Later, after a few minutes of flying, Appa stumbles in his flying, rising and falling all the same.

"I can't believe those girls followed us all the way from Omashu," Katara says.

Princess Azula is related to Prince Zuko, and the latter followed them all around the _world._ "I can," Ka mutters, lying on her stomach on Appa's saddle.

"I still think we could've taken them," Toph says grumpily.

"Are you kidding me?" Katara points her fingers upward. "The crazy blue firebending and the flying daggers are bad enough, but last time we saw them, one of those girls did something that took my bending away." She looks away from them. "That's scary."

Over the horizon, above the mountains, the sun begins to rise. Ka closes her eyes when the sun blinds her vision.

"Oh no, the sun is rising," Sokka whines. "We've been up all night with no sleep!"

Aang does not even turn to look at him. "Sokka, we'll be okay."

"Are you sure?" Sokka all but shouts, his eyes bulging out of his head. "I've never not slept before! What if I fall asleep now and something happens? And someone _always_ happens!"

"Every time we land, those girls are there," Katara says. "So we'll just have to keep flying."

Ka shakes her head with a sigh. "We cannot keep flying forever."

After a few moments of silence, Aang speaks up with a yawn, "So what's our plan?"

"Don't know..." Toph says, slumped against the saddle with her arms tightened through one of the holes. "Too tired to think."

Katara smiles from her place rested against the saddle, a hand behind her back. "I'm sure we'll come up with something after a short nap."

"Yes..." Sokka says, relieved. "Sleep..."

The group begins to nod off, before suddenly awakened by their ride plummeting to the ground. Ka rises into the air, her hair blowing around rapidly, Momo tugging on the skirt of her tunic. She grabs onto Appa's saddle, her eyes wide.

"What's going on!?" Toph asks frantically, her knuckles white from holding on so tightly.

"Appa fell asleep!" Aang yells. He tugs on the reins and uses them to crawl down his bison's head and pat his head urgently. "Wake up, buddy!"

Suddenly, one of Appa's eyes widens in realization, and jerks upwards to avoid the ground. The group sway to the side roughly and brace for impact, as Appa soars through the trees and snaps several branches on the way. He lands on the ground and slides, creating a channel of dirt behind him. His eyes are closed and he snores, his legs spread out beside him.

Aang slides off his head and onto the ground. "Appa's exhausted."

Sokka trudges across the ground and collapses onto the dirt. "Okay, we've put a lost of distance between us and them. The plan right now is to follow Appa's lead and get some sleep."

Katara suddenly dons an irritated expression, and Ka groans for what is about to come. "Of course," Katara starts, "we could've gotten some sleep _earlier,_ if Toph didn't have such _issues._ "

Toph opens her eyes wide and slams against the ground, tugging it along with her. " _What!?_ "

"Would you both quit fighting and just _sleep_ already!?" Ka finds herself shouting, glaring at all of her friends from her place on the ground. When they all stare at her with confused, and shocked expressions, she sighs and lays back in the grass, ignoring the _Whoa_ Sokka gives in return.

"All right, all right," Aang tries in an attempt to reduce the thick tension in the air, "everyone's exhausted! Let's just get some rest."

Toph rises to her feet and faces Katara. "No, I want to hear what Katara has to say. You think I have _issues?_ "

"I'm just saying," Katara says. "Maybe if you helped out earlier, we could've set up our camp faster and gotten some sleep, _and then maybe we wouldn't be in this situation!_ "

Ignoring everything, Sokka spreads out his sleeping bag with his feet and flops onto it. Toph clenches her fists.

"You're blaming _me_ for this?"

Katara throws her sleeping bag to the side and challenges Toph to come closer with a gesture of her hands. Aang steps between them before she can even think about touching her.

"No!" he says desperately. "No, she's not blaming you."

"No, I'm blaming her!"

Toph shoves Aang out of the way. "Hey, I never asked you for diddly-doo-dah. I carry my _own_ weight. Besides, if there's anyone to blame, it's _Sheddy_ over here!"

Ka raises her head. Aang frowns from his place on Appa's tail, "What? You're blaming _Appa?_ "

"Yeah," Toph affirms, her voice only raising with each sentence, "you want to know how they keep finding us?" She walks over to Appa and snatches a handful of fur, before letting the sheddings blow away from her open palm in the wind. "He's leaving a trail everywhere we go!"

Ka looks between the sheddings in the wind and Appa, and suddenly realizes. Of course. Flying only makes the shedding worse, being in the air and having the wind blow through your hair constantly. They are finding them through his fur.

Aang, however, does not accept this as easily as her. "How dare you blame Appa!" he shouts, jumping down to face her. "He saved your life three times today! If there's anyone to blame it's you! You're always talking about how you carry your own weight, but you're not. He is! Appa's carrying your weight! He never had a problem flying when it was just the four of us!"

"Aang, " Ka scolds, but it's too late.

Toph angrily stomps the ground, launching her pack into the air. "I'm outta here."

When she turns to leave, Sokka steps in front of her, his arms outstretched. "Wait!"

She only kicks the ground and earthbends Sokka to the side, leaving him too surprised to stop her anymore. Toph walks into the forest, and disappears from sight.

Ka rises to her feet and grabs onto Aang's shirt with a deep frown. "What have you just done?" she hisses under her breath.

Aang looks between her and the place where Toph just left. He looks up to the sky and then slumps down Appa's sleeping form. "What did I just _do?_ I can't believe I yelled at our earthbending teacher. Now she's gone."

"I know," Katara agrees regretfully. "We're all just trying to get used to each other. And I was so mean to her."

"Yeah, you two were pretty much jerks."

"Thanks, Sokka."

"No problem."

"Exhaustion is no excuse for rudeness," Ka says, folding her arms over her chest and giving a disapproving glare to the two of them.

Katara lowers her gaze. "We need to find Toph and apologize."

"Okay," Sokka says, "but what are we going to do about the tank full of dangerous ladies chasing us?"

Aang grabs a handful of fur and watches it blow away with a thoughtful look. He looks at Ka and nods once—they are thinking the same thing. "I have a plan."

They give Appa a bath in the nearby river. Aang and Ka waterbend two streams of water to shower him on each side, as Momo and Sokka scrub the bison's fur all over to rid his entire body of shedding fur. Katara bends the clumps of fur that are left behind the river away.

"Toph was right," Aang says when Appa shakes his fur free of water. "The fur was leaving a trail right to us. But now that he's clean, no more trail."

"Are you sure he's okay to fly?" Katara asks.

"He'll be fine as long as we leave his saddle and all our stuff here," Aang assures, and kneels down to place pieces of Appa's fur into a satchel slung around his shoulder.

"We will use Appa's fur to craft a fake trail to lead the tank off-course," Ka says.

Sokka and Katara climb onto Appa and take flight, although the bison's body accidentally snaps the topmost limbs off the towering trees above. They watch him fly away and then turn. Aang and Ka take a running start and then the former opens his glider, the latter jumping on the top when he takes off, releasing patches of fur from the bag along the way.

* * *

Out of the forest is an old, abandoned town in the middle of the desert. Their satchel of fur is beginning to run low as they enter the town.

Aang and Ka land on the ground, walking down the street of the rundown town. Aang twirls his glider closed and Ka takes the satchel to casually drop fur along their way. Once they make it to the end of the town, Ka dumps the rest of the fur on the ground, shaking it free. They turn to face the horizon, and then back at each other.

They sit on the ground cross-legged, and await whatever may come their way.

* * *

What comes their way is the Fire Nation princess, riding on her mongoose lizard in a cloud of dust. She closes in on them, but neither of them move as she jumps down from her beast and smirks at the sight of them.

"All right," Aang calls, "you've caught up with us. Now, who are you and what do you want?"

"You mean you haven't guessed?" the princess says coolly. "You don't see the family resemblance? Here's a hint." She covers one of her eyes with her hand and deepens her voice, "I must find the Avatar and the Minder to restore my honor!" Aang and Ka merely stare, the latter furrowing her eyebrows. "It's okay, you can laugh. It's funny."

A beat of silence passes. "So what now?" Aang asks.

"Now?" the princess says. "Now, it's over. You're tired and you have no place to go. You can run, but I'll catch you."

They rise.

"We are not running," Ka declares.

"Do you really want to fight me?" Princess Azula asks, giving a smug smile in their direction.

"Yes," comes a voice from an alleyway between two buildings, and they turn to see Prince Zuko jump out and throw his hat aside, "I really do."

"Zuko!" Aang gasps in alarm. Ka notices his lack of a ponytail and his new hair—what happened to him after the North Pole?

The princess only stares at him. "I was wondering when you'd show up, Zuzu."

Aang and Ka share an amused look. Aang covers his mouth to hide a snort. " _Zuzu?_ "

"Back off, Azula!" Prince Zuko shouts, readily ignoring the nickname and assuming a fighting stance. "They're mine!"

Azula just gives a confident smile. "I'm not going anywhere."

The prince stands between the three of them, one of his hands outstretched towards his sister and the other towards the two of them. Aang immediately assumes a fighting stance of his own, pointing his glider at Prince Zuko with an unsure frown. Ka opens the cap of her water pouch and takes a step in front of Aang, narrowing her eyes at the Fire Nation royals.

The tension is so thick it can be cut with a knife. The princess breaks it when she suddenly moves forward and fires a blast of blue flames at the prince. He steps backward and conjures a fire shield to deflect it, but the impact sends him falling backwards onto a porch. Aang and Ka immediately turn and the former opens up his glider, jumping onto it and flying over the back end of the town. Princess Azula turns and swings her arm downwards, sending a large stream of fire towards them. Aang turns over mid-air and twirls his glider to deflect the flames. Ka jumps down and slides against the sand, pressing her fingers against the ground to brace her fall.

Prince Zuko suddenly appears again, firing a blast from behind her. Ka leaps to the side, the flames narrowly missing her face. They meet eyes for a moment before Ka hears Aang let out a shout. She looks in the direction of the sound, and then back at the prince. He gives an angry yell as he punches more fire at her, and Ka airbends him backwards before running in the direction of Aang's shout. She finds him in a half-destroyed building, but the princess notices her before her Avatar does, and shoots a line of blue fire at her. Ka bends backwards to avoid it, and then bends the water from her pouch over the princess' fingertips. She freezes them and pulls Princess Azula forward, and she gives her a startled look before gritting her teeth and heating up her hand so the ice shatters into pieces.

Aang is still running, and Princess Azula runs after him after shoving Ka aside. She gasps, and watches as a blast the princess sends towards her Avatar also renders the prince unconscious, sending him spiraling towards the ground. Ka runs after Aang, seeing the princess running inside a building and sending two streams of fire along the side of the wall. It glows blue before spreading into an orange hue. Aang is trapped underneath the planks of wood inside the ruined building, and Ka turns her head to see Katara running towards her.

The two girls send a water whip at the princess before she can generate any lightning, and Katara slices the wooden planks with a quick stream of water. Aang grins and jumps out of the planks.

Princess Azula attempts to fire more blasts at them, but all their friends emerge from different sides of the town, sending different attacks that she attempts to block left and right. Suddenly, Toph appears from an alleyway and shifts the ground beneath the princess' feet.

"I thought you guys could use a little help," she says with a grin, and Ka sees the old Fire Nation man the prince had traveled with arrive at the same time as she.

Katara smiles. "Thanks."

The princess rises to her feet and starts to run, jumping through some crates in an alleyway and jumping behind a building. The older Fire Nation man suddenly hits her with his stomach and knocks her off her feet. The prince comes next to him, and the seven of them corner Princess Azula against the ruins of a stone wall.

"Well, look at this," she says calmly, looking across her attackers with an almost amused look. "Enemies and traitors, all working together. I'm done." She raises her hands above her head in surrender. "I know when I'm beaten. You got me. A princess surrenders with honor."

No one speaks. No one moves. Ka takes the chance to look between the prince and the older man (General Iroh, she thinks his name is), and then back towards the princess. At that moment, she gives a wicked grin and steps forward, firing a blast at General Iroh before anyone can even blink. He is hit in the stomach, and screams in pain before falling to the ground. Prince Zuko lets out a horrified shout, and the remaining six bend their respective elements in her direction (with the exception of Sokka). The impact creates a thick cloud of smoke and sets the buildings in the town alight. When the smoke clears the princess is gone without a trace, and the prince runs over to General Iroh and kneels above him.

"Ugh!" he shouts, holding onto his head and shaking his head in anger. When he notices the group approaching them, he turns and screams, "Get away from us!"

Katara takes the chance to take a step forward. "Zuko, I can help."

The prince whirls around and blasts an arc of fire above their heads. " _Leave!_ "

Ka ducks underneath the flames and grabs Katara's wrist. She gasps as Ka leads her underneath the fire, over to the other side of the fallen General Iroh and bends the water out of her pouch.

"Help me," Ka says, and Katara nods once, her eyes wide and confused.

The prince gives her an angry glare, jumping up and his hand bursting into flames. "I said _leave—_ "

Ka grabs his wrist and pushes it to the side before he can even think about touching her. "Would you rather him die?" she demands with a hard look, and she and the prince stare at each other for a few seconds.

Defeated, the prince falls back to his knees and watches with hopeless eyes as Ka and Katara bend the water over the general's wound. His hopeless eyes turn into those of fascination as he watches the water glow and the wound on his companion slowly become less red and more pink.

"Uncle..." he whispers, and oh, that is what he is to him.

Ka takes her hands away and looks at the prince, but his gaze is only focused on the wound on his uncle. Ka takes Katara's wrist once more and jumps onto Appa with the rest of their friends.

"Is he alright?" Aang asks when Ka lands beside him.

She nods. "He will live."

Aang just bites his lip and Appa flies away, leaving Prince Zuko and his uncle behind in the abandoned town.

* * *

In the end, they finally get some sleep.

Including Appa.

* * *

 **hoo boy. long chapter.**

 **next up we have: bitter work (exciting), the library, the desert, and maybe the serpent's pass. ba sing se is getting closer and closer.**


	11. season two: episodes 9-12

**this chapter was fun to write. you'll see why.**

* * *

"Today's the day!"

Aang jumps down from Appa, grinning, landing near a sleeping Sokka and inadvertently causing him to stir awake. Ka slides down Appa's tail and fluffs her hair, pushing it out of her face and back into a ponytail. It has gotten so long lately, and strands of hair constantly fall into her face and block her vision. Ka makes a mental note to cut it soon.

"Can you believe it?" Aang continues, voice shimmering with excitement. "After all that time searching for a teacher, we're finally starting earthbending!" When Ka nods and smiles softly at him, Aang throws his arms in the air and says, "And this place, it's perfect, don't you think?"

"Yes," Ka replies, looking around at the rock canyons that surround them.

Aang looks towards Sokka for his answer, but he does not respond. "Sokka?" The boy in question grumbles angrily and looks up to glare at the both of them. "Oh, you're still sleeping, huh?" More grumbles. Aang shifts his voice into a whisper, "Sorry."

The ground then begins to shake, and the earth tent Toph had been sleeping in is suddenly destroyed, the slabs of each side tossed in every direction. Toph has her hands in the air, grinning.

"Goooood morning, earthbending students!"

She walks over towards them, her hands on her hips. The rumbling had woken up the rest of the team, and Katara sleepily rubs her eyes from her sleeping bag.

"Good morning, Sifu Toph," Aang says, bowing, and Ka follows his lead.

Katara makes a disappointed noise. "Hey," she says tiredly, "you never call _me_ Sifu Katara."

Aang scratches the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, if you think I should..."

Sokka sits up, grumbling some more, his eyes narrowed angrily. Aang blinks at him, while Toph only smiles from next to him.

"Sorry, Snoozles," she says, "we'll do our earthbending as _quietly_ as we can." She finishes her sentence with a slam of her heel into the ground, sending a fissure through the ground that creates an earth pillar underneath the sleeping Sokka. It launches him into the air, and he screams as he crashes loudly into the ground. Jumping to his feet, still in his sleeping back, he bounces towards each of them and mutters incoherently, before bouncing out of sight.

Ka crosses her arms over her chest with a curious look, watching him disappear from sight. From beside her, Aang jumps in the air excitedly.

"So what move are you going to teach us first?" he asks, eyes sparkling. He stretches his arm and brings it down like a hammer, "Rock-a-lanche? The Trembler?" He throws both arms over his head and spins. "Oh, maybe we could learn to make a whirlpool out of land!"

Toph puts a hand on his chest to stop his movements. "Let's start with"—she makes a motion as if she is pushing something forward—"move a rock."

Aang claps excitedly. "Sounds good, sounds good!"

As they walk to find a good area of the canyon, Ka rolls her eyes. "Do not base your expectations on _Earth Rumble VI,_ " she says, amusement sneaking into her tone.

Her Avatar just laughs.

They eventually make it to a good, wide open area. Toph bends three rocks in front of each of them.

"The key to earthbending is your stance," she explains, shifting her legs and arms so she stands upright and firm. Aang and Ka copy her. "You've got to be steady and strong. Rock is a stubborn element. If you're going to move it, you've got be like a rock yourself."

Ka nods.

"Like a rock," Aang says. "Got it."

"Good," Toph continues. "Now the actual motion of this one is pretty simple." She pauses, turning to the side, and steps forward, punching her fist against the rock and slamming it against the canyon wall. "Okay," she then says, turning to her students, "you ready to give it a try?"

Ka goes first. She copies Toph's movements, reminding herself to _stay firm, like a rock, keep steady._ Slamming her foot against the ground, she manages to push the rock forward—albeit not as impressively as her teacher. The rock only moves a few feet, and she tilts her head, standing back up straight.

Toph nods approvingly. Aang beams and claps.

Then it is Aang's turn. He does not look as firm as the other two when he does his, and the motion sends him flying backwards into Appa, the rock unmoved.

Ka winces. Katara puts a hand over her mouth in shock. Toph just purses her lips thoughtfully.

Sokka, on the other hand, just laughs from his place perched in the mountainous canyon. "Rock beats airbender!"

* * *

His uncle finally stirs awake, an unbearably sad look in his eyes. Zuko almost doesn't want to know what he could have possibly been dreaming about—but he doesn't ask.

Instead, he says, "Uncle... you were unconscious."

Uncle slowly sits up, holding the patched area of his chest.

"Azula did this to you," he continues, clenching his fists against his knees. "It was a surprise attack."

"Somehow, that's not so surprising." Uncle groans and shifts against the wall, and looks down at the makeshift bandages across his body. "Surely only bandages couldn't heal me as much as this?"

Oh. Right. He should probably tell him. Zuko opens his mouth, but hesitates, only out of sheer embarrassment and shame.

"It," he starts, and swallows, "was the Minder and the Water Tribe girl. They... healed you with water, or something." Zuko remembers the glow that had come from their hands, how the water they bent over his uncle's wound glowed and glowed until the wound began to seal shut and turn less red. It wasn't completely perfect, but it was enough to keep him alive without any additional medicine.

"Oh?" Uncle says thoughtfully. _And you let them?_ goes unsaid. "I'll have to thank them if I see them again."

Zuko doesn't say anything to that. He now thinks that he, perhaps, should have thanked them at the time. Even when he screamed at them to leave, the Avatar's Minder—no, _the_ Minder—ignored him and did everything she could for a man she didn't know. He chased the Avatar and his— _the_ Minder all around the world and yet they still have the audacity to _humiliate_ him by helping him at every turn.

What an odd bunch.

After a moment, he suddenly remembers the tea he had oh so carefully made. Turning, he picks up a cup and hands it to his uncle, "I hope I made it the way you like it."

Uncle takes a sip and his eyes widen, and Zuko can only hope that means it's good. "Good," his uncle says a moment later, his voice strained. "That was very... uh, bracing."

Zuko refills his cup, and then grips the fabric around his knees as he speaks. "So, Uncle, I've been thinking. It's only a matter of time before I run into Azula again. I'm going to need to know more advanced firebending if I want to stand a chance against her. I know what you're going to say: she's my sister and I should be trying to get along with her."

He did get along with her. Once before, many years ago. Zuko can only wonder what could've happened to ruin all that.

"No," Uncle then says, surprising him, "she's crazy, and she needs to go down."

Zuko stares at him for a moment. His sister is younger than she seems—simply fourteen. Both of them have been thrown into a crazy world. Nonetheless, he nods.

His uncle grunts, holding onto the wall as he stands up tall.

"It's time to resume your training."

* * *

Aang recovers from his stumble and walks over to them, rubbing the back of his head with a wince.

"I don't understand what went wrong," Katara says. "He did it exactly the way you did. And Ka managed to do it!"

Ka just shrugs.

"Maybe there's another way..." Aang voices thoughtfully, and turns as if he is going to attack the boulder from the left side. "What if I came at the boulder from a different angle?"

Toph grabs the back of his shirt and yanks him backwards. "No," she says firmly. "That's the problem. You've got to stop thinking like an airbender." She knocks on his head to emphasize her point. "There's no different angle, no clever solution, no trickety-trick that's going to move that rock. You've got to face it head on. And when I say head on, I mean like this!" She jumps in the air and slams her head against the rock, destroying it completely.

Aang flinches backwards. "Whoa!" He then turns to Ka as Toph and Katara walk away to talk to each other. "How come _you_ got it so quickly?"

Ka looks at the rock she had moved, and then back at him. "Spirit World mentoring."

"Yeah, but you can't _bend_ in the Spirit World," Aang sighs. "I don't get what I'm doing wrong!"

Ka just follows after him when he starts to walk off. "I am sure you will figure it out eventually."

* * *

Their training consists of destroying rocks, punching sand, pushing more rocks, and balancing on earth pillars to keep from falling over.

Aang struggles in the beginning, but proves himself successful near the end. Ka manages to get most of them just fine—though most of her attempts prove herself to be a new, budding earthbender.

Toph eventually decides to focus on Aang only, letting Ka watch through her examples, as the Avatar is the one struggling the most.

She sets Aang in front of a large decline of the canyon, where a boulder sits at the top. She ends up blindfolding him so he has to sense the vibrations in order to stop it. In the end, Aang jumps over the boulder at the last second, causing it to roll past them and crash into the cliff on the opposite side.

Angry, Toph yells at him. Katara ends up diffusing the situation and leads Aang away to practice waterbending. Ka ends up going with Toph to practice some more; she feels Aang needs some time alone, without her.

For a while, they just punch sand and rock in silence. Then, Toph finally speaks up.

"What's with you two?"

Ka pauses for a moment, tilting her head. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Toph says, shaking out her hands and putting them on her hips, "I've heard stories about the Avatar, and even _less_ about the Minder. They always involve you two doing some weird, connection stuff. So, _Goddess,_ what's the deal between you two?"

That answer does not give her much to work with. Ka just thinks for a moment, pointedly ignoring the nickname, and says, "We have a connection that dates back hundreds of years. We are linked both mentally and physically. I must protect him, as he protects me."

Toph stares into space blankly, processing her words. "I guess that explains the crazy twin talk you two do sometimes."

Ka smiles softly. "I suppose so."

"So, I think I'm all caught up on Aang's whole _frozen in ice for a hundred years_ thing," Toph then says, "but where do _you_ come from? Water Tribe?"

Ka shakes her head. "No. I come from the Spirit World."

That renders Toph speechless, even if it is just for a moment. "No kidding."

"I would not lie."

"So you really _are_ a goddess, huh?"

Ka frowns. "I am in no way comparable to a _goddess,_ " she urges.

Toph just laughs. "Alright, whatever you say."

After a few more silent minutes of bending earth at one another, Toph suddenly stops and looks up with a great, big, horribly mischievous smile.

"I just got the _greatest_ idea."

* * *

Toph's so-called great idea consists of making Aang so irritated that he is forced to earthbend. Make him brave enough to stand up to something hard and strong.

It takes an angry saber-tooth moose-lion and her cub to bring Aang to that point. In the end, when he yells at Toph, and earthbends right after, he finally manages to send a rock into a canyon wall, and Sokka finally breaks free of the crevice in the ground he had been trapped in.

All in all, a successful day.

* * *

Failure after failure. He can't do anything right.

"You've always thrown everything you could at me! Well, I can take it, and now I can give it back! "

His voice sounds even louder than the storm as he yells. Heavy rain thumps against him so hard he feels he could fall down from the pressure of it. The ground beneath him is slippery and wet. Zuko takes a careful step forward, and suddenly sees lightning strike a few feet away from the mountaintop.

"Come on, strike me! You've never held back before!"

Life has tossed strike after strike and storm after storm his way, when he never asked for it, when he never thought he deserved it.

But now it's different.

He screams at the top of his lungs, his voice cracking, and realizes that the hot wetness against his face is not, in fact, the rain, but instead his own tears.

* * *

They choose mini-vacations.

Aang's vacation choice leads them to a vast savanna, and he eventually lands them on a part of the ground littered with holes. Jumping off, he pulls out a thin, wooden flute and sits cross-legged on the ground. The rest of his friends sit behind him, watching curiously and confusedly.

"What's out here?" Sokka asks, mostly representing the confused part.

Toph kneels down to press her hand against the ground. "A lot, actually. There's hundreds of little—"

"Shh!" Aang shushes quickly. "I know you can see underground, but don't ruin the surprise. Just watch." He blows a note on the flute, and suddenly a groundhog pops out of one of the holes and mimics the note. Sokka and Katara share a weird look. Aang grins, and plays a different note, with the same outcome. "I'm putting an orchestra together!"

"Orchestra, huh?" Sokka deadpans, and then waves his hands in the air, "Well, _la-di-da._ "

Three groundhogs pop from the ground in lined holes, mimicking Sokka's unintentional notes. Ka snorts, putting a hand over her mouth to keep it from becoming full-fledged laughter. Momo jumps into one of the holes in an attempt to catch the groundhogs. Aang continuously plays notes, causing the lemur to run after each one. On the fifth note he plays, Sokka walks up and plugs the flute with his finger.

"This is great and all," he says, his tone implying that it is clearly _not great,_ "but don't we have more important things to worry about? We should be making plans."

"We _did_ make plans," Toph argues. "We're all picking mini-vacations."

"There's no time for vacations!"

Aang frowns from his place on the ground. "We're learning the elements as fast as we can," he says, and Ka walks over to stand beside him. "We practice hard _every_ day with Toph and Katara. I've been training my arrow off!"

"It is unhealthy to work and work with no play," Ka says.

"Yeah," Katara comments, "what Ka said! What's wrong with having a little fun in our downtime?"

Sokka frowns. "Even if you do master all of the elements, then what? It's not like we have a map of the Fire Nation. Should we just head west until we reach the Fire Lord's house?" He gestures to the side and knocks on some sort of imaginary door. "Knock, knock. Hello, Fire Lord? Anybody home?" He then stomps his foot and turns to Aang and Ka with a heavy frown. "I don't think so. We need some intelligence if we're going to win this war."

Aang replies by playing a short note on his flute. A groundhog appears from underneath Sokka and repeats it.

"All right," Katara relents, "we'll finish our vacations and _then_ we'll look for Sokka's _intelligence._ "

Aang laughs, and Ka covers her mouth again to hide a smile. He moves to take a map from Appa's saddle and opens in front of Ka. "Your turn, Ka. Where would you like to go on your mini-vacation?"

Ka purses her lips, tapping her chin. "I am not sure..." she murmurs.

Katara scoots up beside her, and then points to an area in the center of the map. "How about the Misty Palms Oasis?" she suggests, smiling at Ka. "That sounds like a place you'd enjoy."

Ka shrugs. "Alright."

"Oh, yeah, I've been there," Aang says. "It's a pristine natural ice spring. And I don't usually use the word _pristine._ It's one of nature's _wonders._ "

* * *

Compared to the beautiful drawing on the map, the oasis itself is small and melted, sitting in the center of a rundown town crawling with sandbenders and other shady-looking folk. There are animals licking the melting ice spring.

"Must've changed ownership since I've been here..." Aang says sheepishly, laughing a bit.

As soon as they walk into the town, the hanging gate behind them crashes to the ground. Almost like an omen. To escape the heat, they walk into a tavern, and Ka frowns at the gazes that the sandbenders give her and Katara. One even spits at Sokka's feet.

Inside the bar are weary travelers and men carrying large weapons. A bartender is serving fruity drinks inside chunks of ice, using his swords to cut up the fruit.

"I don't see anything wrong with having one of those fruity beverages while we plan our strategy," Sokka says, grinning, and runs up to the bartender. Ka follows him, craving one as well. "Excuse me."

The man who had been ordering at the bar before suddenly turns, bumping into Aang and spilling his drink all over his clothes. He gives him a horrified look before Aang smiles and puts up his hand.

"No worries, I clean up easy." And he airbends the drink off his clothes, causing the man to hold onto his hat and gasp.

"You're a living relic," he says, amazed.

Ka walks up beside Aang with her fruity drink, her lips wrapped around the straw as she watches the man leer towards her Avatar with eager eyes.

"Thanks," Aang says casually, "I try."

"An Air Nomad... right in front of me," the man says thoughtfully, rubbing a hand over his chin. He then nods, and says, "Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University." He grabs Aang's arm and points to his arrow tattoo, studying it curiously. "Tell me, which of the air temples do you hail from?"

Aang blinks. "The Southern Temple!"

Professor Zei suddenly whips out a pair of calipers and measures his head, smiling. "Oh, splendid! Now tell me—what was the primary agricultural product of your people?"

Unsurely, Aang replies, "Uh... are fruit pies an agricultural product?"

Professor Zei blinks. "Oh, truly fascinating. That is one for the journal." He takes out said journal and begins scribbling into it, and when he looks up, he finally notices Ka standing beside Aang, and his eyes widen. "Oh, you are a living _mystery!_ Where do _you_ hail from?"

Ka slurps the rest of her drink down. "The Spirit World," she replies bluntly.

The professor grins, and begins writing in his journal even more furiously. "Incredible! An _actual_ spirit, here before my eyes! I should have known—from your breathtaking appearance!"

Breathtaking. Ka has never been called that before. It makes her do a double-take, and she stares at the professor even more suspiciously than before.

"So, Professor," Sokka says, "you're obviously a well-traveled guy. Do you have a more current map? Ours seems to be a little dated."

"Certainly!"

The map they are given contains only the oasis and the desert, with several lines traced into the depths of the desert.

Sokka scans the map, tracing his finger around it, and then groans. "What, no Fire Nation? Doesn't _anybody_ have a good map of that place?"

Katara leans over the table. "You've made a lot of trips into the desert," she observes thoughtfully.

"All in vain, I'm afraid," Professor Zei sighs. "I've found lost civilizations all over the Earth Kingdom"—he raises his clenched fist rather dramatically—"but I haven't managed to find the crown jewel: Wan Shi Tong's Library."

Ka stops in place. She has most definitely heard that name before, somewhere.

From her place on the chair on the opposite side of the table, Toph speaks up, "You spent _years_ walking through the desert to find some guy's _library?_ "

"This library is more valuable than gold, little lady," Professor Zei says. "It is said to contain a _vast_ collection of knowledge, and knowledge... is priceless."

"Hmm," Toph deadpans, "sounds like good times."

Oblivious to her sarcasm, the professor continues, "Oh, it is. According to legend, it was built by the great Knowledge Spirit, Wan Shi Tong, with the help of his _foxy_ knowledge seekers." He looks towards Ka with an excited smile. "I do wonder if _you_ know him by any chance?"

Ka shakes her head. She has most definitely heard the name (probably from her father, or some passing spirit), but has never seen him. "No," she replies.

"Oh," Sokka drawls, smirking, "so this spirit has attractive assistants, huh?"

His sister pushes at his face with an annoyed frown. "I think he means they look like _actual_ foxes, Sokka."

"You're both right," Professor Zei says, surprising both of them. "Handsome little creatures." He pulls out a drawing of the large, extravagant library and spreads it across the table. "Wan Shi Tong and his knowledge seekers collected books from all over the world, and put them on display for mankind to read, so that we might better ourselves."

 _Sounds like something a spirit would do,_ Ka decides.

"If this place has books from all over the world," Sokka says, stroking his chin, "do you think they've got info on the Fire Nation? A map, maybe?"

Professor Zei furrows his eyebrows in thought. "I wouldn't know. But _if_ such a thing exists, it's in Wan Shi Tong's Library."

Sokka nods firmly, and then smiles brightly. "Then it's settled. Aang, I do believe it's my turn. I'd like to spend my vacation"—he points his finger into the air as he shouts—" _at the library!_ "

A beat of silence passes. Toph waves her hand in the air to gather her friends' attention. "Uh, hey, what about me? When do I get to pick?"

"You gotta work here a little longer before you qualify for vacation time," Sokka says matter-of-factly.

Toph slams her drink on the table and folds her arm with a huff. Ka pats her shoulder in an attempt of reassurance.

"Of course," the professor then speaks up, "there's the matter of _finding_ it. I've made several trips into the Si Wong Desert and almost died each time." He looks down sadly. "I'm afraid that desert's impossible to cross."

Aang and Sokka share a look. Sokka turns to the professor with a smirk. "Professor, would you like to see our sky bison?"

"A _sky bison!?_ You actually have one?"

* * *

The sun beats down on them hard. Ka ends up tying her hair into a bun to keep it off her neck and rolls up the sleeves of her tunic. The professor asks her more questions about her tattoos and her appearance. She mostly ignores them.

They eventually find the library, which is only visible by the small tower protruding from the sand. When they look at the illustration, they find that the entirety of the library is buried underneath the sand, but completely intact. Following a fox spirit, they climb inside through the window at the top of the tower and land on a walkway. The inside of the library is absolutely _beautiful,_ seemingly going for miles and miles, with rows and rows of books as far as the eye can see.

After landing inside the library, they hear rustling noises and the sound of footsteps. Hiding behind pillars, they avoid the large owl spirit that suddenly rounds the corner, walking over the bridge. He stops at the rope, and looks at it curiously. Ka and Aang peeks over to look.

" _I know you're back there._ "

The two of them quickly hide once more, but the professor smiles and walks out from behind the pillar and out onto the walkway, his hands clasped before him.

"Hello!" he greets excitedly, all but running up to the spirit. "I'm Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University."

" _You should leave the way you came,_ " is all Wan Shi Tong says in reply, and he turns his head to the side. " _Unless you want to become a stuffed head of anthropology._ "

The professor clutches at his neck when he sees the three stuffed animal heads situated on the pillar. The rest of the group walks out from behind their pillars, and up towards the spirit. Ka finds herself in awe on how large and tall he is.

"Are you the spirit who brought this library to the physical world?" Sokka asks.

" _Indeed,_ " the spirit replies, " _I am Wan Shi Tong, He Who Knows Ten Thousand Things. And you are obviously humans, which, by the way, are no longer permitted in my study._ " Wan Shi Tong suddenly eyes Ka with wary eyes, and he pauses. " _You, however... do not seem to be human. Welcome to my library, fellow spirit._ " He bows, which surprises her, and she bows back after a moment of hesitation.

Aang looks at Ka for a moment, and then back up towards the large owl spirit. "What do you have against humans?" he asks curiously.

" _Hm!_ " Wan Shi Tong scoffs. " _Humans only bother learning things to get the edge on other humans. Like that firebender who came to this place a few years ago, looking to destroy his enemy._ "

 _Zhao,_ Ka realizes. Aang seems to realize the same thing, for he gives her a startled look.

Wan Shi Tong leers towards a sweating Sokka. " _So... who are you trying to destroy?_ "

"What?" Sokka says, very obviously lying. "No, no, no destroying! We're not into that."

The spirit only blinks. " _Then why have you come here?_ "

"Um... knowledge for knowledge's sake?"

" _... If you're going to lie to an all-knowing spirit being, you should at least put some effort into it._ "

"I'm not lying!" Sokka says quickly, and moves to grab Aang and Ka. "I'm here with the Avatar and the Minder, and they're the bridge between our worlds. They'll vouch for me."

He nudges them, and Ka rubs at her arm.

"Uh, yeah," Aang says nervously, "I'll vouch."

"We will not abuse the knowledge in your library," they say in unison, and bow respectfully. "You have our word."

The spirit thinks for a moment, looking between the two of them. Ka has a feeling he only believes them because _she_ is there, a spirit, among humans. " _Very well,_ " he finally says. " _I'll let you peruse my vast collection, on one condition. To prove your worth as scholars, you have to contribute some worthwhile knowledge._ "

After a few moments of taking things out of bags and thinking of what to give, Professor Zei walks up holding a large book, kneeling before the spirit. "Please accept this tome as a donation to your library."

" _First edition, very nice,_ " Wan Shi Tong says, and takes the book with his wing.

Katara walks up next, holding out the waterbending scroll she had stolen from the pirates oh so long ago. "I have an authentic waterbending scroll."

Wan Shi Tong's voice is horribly monotone as he says, " _Ooh, these illustrations are quite stylish._ " He takes the scroll, and Katara bows as she walks away.

Aang and Ka are next. They look at each other unsurely, before Aang whispers something into her ear and pulls his and Ka's wanted poster out of his shirt, holding it before the spirit with a big smile.

The spirit stares. " _I suppose that counts._ " He takes it nonetheless.

Sokka walks up, and Ka can only dread what he is going to do. "Oh, great spirit, check this out." He takes a string out and weaves it into a butterfly knot, smiling. "Ta-da!" The spirit only stares at him silently. "It's a special knot!" Sokka then urges. "That counts as knowledge!"

" _You're not very bright, are you?_ " He takes the knot, however, and looks up towards the group. " _Enjoy the library._ " Wan Shi Tong jumps off the side of the walkway and flies down towards the lower levels of the library. Ka just watches him go, and turns to follow Aang when he begins walking into the library.

"Bright enough to fool you," she hears Sokka mutter under his breath, and clenches her fist.

Lying to a great and ancient spirit feels too wrong for her liking, even if it is for good reason.

* * *

The group stops at a bookshelf eventually, Professor Zei tearing through book after book eagerly, while the others merely peruse what the library has to offer.

"Hey, look at these weird lion turtle things," Aang says, holding the book over at his friends.

Sokka just shrugs, picking a book up off the shelf. "Eh, I've seen weirder."

Ka walks out of the bookshelf and into the next aisle. Tracing her fingers along the dusty books, she suddenly stops when she sees a scroll with the words _violet_ and _spirit_ written on the side. The other letters are scratched out, and she takes the scroll out curiously. Unraveling it, Ka holds it up to the light so she can read better.

The scroll tells a story of a beautiful woman from legend, who was beloved by all who met her, who was so generous and kind that the queen of the land she hailed from asked for her hand in marriage. The scroll details the woman as being dark-skinned from the sun, her hair as black as coal, and her eyes as vibrant as amethyst. Ka is so startled that she very nearly drops the scroll, but continues to read nonetheless. The day before her wedding, the beautiful woman accidentally finds herself in the Spirit World, where her face is stolen by none other than Koh the Face Stealer. The queen is in such a rage that she orders the spirit killed, but all of her soldiers have their faces stolen as well. The queen eventually dies of a broken heart, and the kingdom falls into chaos and ruin. The community comes together to rebuild each other back up—the community eventually becomes what is now known as the Northern Water Tribe.

This time she really _does_ drop the scroll, her hands trembling too much to keep holding it. Her heart drops down to her stomach and her breath catches in her throat, and for a moment she forgets just where she is.

Her face. Her existence. Her suspicions must be true. The face she wears is not her own, and it never will be.

(Then she stops. _Her hair._ Her hair must be hers, for the beautiful woman from legend had black hair. That thought makes her calm down just a bit, _just_ slightly, enough to move again.)

Ka kneels down, shakily picking up the scroll and rolling it back up, shoving it back where she found it. She follows her friends' voices, her hands trembling uncontrollably as she weaves her fingers through her hair, untangling it from the bun she had put it in before. Aang looks over when he notices her walking down, and his face immediately goes from a smile to one of great concern. He runs up to her, holding onto her arms and looking up at her face.

"What happened?" he asks worriedly. "Are you okay?"

"Ka?" Katara calls from farther down the aisle.

Ka shakes her head and gently pushes Aang away. "Read a bad story," she murmurs. "I am fine."

Aang is most definitely not convinced, telltale from the smallest furrow in his brows, but he is too distracted by the sound of Sokka's sudden running to ask any further.

"Sokka, where are you going?"

The boy in question is running down a section of the library, holding some sort of burnt parchment in his hands. He turns his head to look back at his friends and says, "I want to know what happened to the Fire Nation on their darkest day. This could be promising."

They have no choice but to follow.

"The information on the Fire Nation should be right up here," Sokka says when they come across the entrance to some sort of room, the sign at the top being large and red. However, upon walking inside, the room is full of ashes and rubble, blackened, without a trace of anything readable.

"Firebenders..." Aang and Ka whisper.

"They destroyed _everything_ having to do with the Fire Nation," Katara says morosely, her eyes trailing across the darkened room.

"That's so unfair!" Sokka all but shouts. "Just when I think I'm _one_ step ahead of the Fire Nation, it turns out they beat us here a long time ago!" He collapses to his knees, his fists clenching in the ashes. "I need to know what happened on the darkest day."

Suddenly, behind them, comes a whimper, and when they turn they see one of Wan Shi Tong's Knowledge Seekers standing on its hind legs.

Sokka blinks a few times. "Uh... hello, little, weird fox guy."

In reply, the Knowledge Seeker lowers back down to its four legs and points its nose outside the room.

"Seems it's trying to assist you," Professor Zei observes.

"Um, sure, I guess I'll follow you..."

They run after the fox when it begins running in the opposite direction, and it leads them to a large, round door with a mysterious texture lining the bottom sides of the wall it rests on. The Knowledge Seeker enters through a small door in the texture, and a moment later the large door rolls open. They walk inside the room, and the fox pushes a lever beside a large structure in the center of the room, and the domed ceiling slowly begins to change from dark to light, fictional stars shining over their bodies.

Professor Zei gasps, holding onto his hat. "This room is a true marvel," he says, amazed, "a mechanical wonder. It's a planetarium that shows the heavens moving."

"Uh," Sokka says, "this is beautiful, but how is it helpful?"

Ka turns to look at what seems to be a calendar wheel. There are inscriptions across all four dials, and she nudges Sokka with her elbow.

"Perhaps these dials represent dates and times," she says. "The parchment you took—did it include any dates?"

"Shh!" Sokka shushes her quickly, mock whispering. "Ka, not in front of the fox, he's with the owl!"

Ka gives him a deadpanned look. The Knowledge Seeker whimpers.

Sokka eyes the fox warily before peeking at the parchment and then moving to the dial to change the calendar wheels. He then pushes the lever, and the domed ceiling slowly changes from day to night, the sun and moon passing by each other, getting closer and closer until they eventually stop, the fake moon over the sun.

Ka tilts her head in confusion; Aang mimics her.

"Hey, wait, what happened to the sun?"

"Great," Aang says, "you must have broken it."

Sokka walks a few steps forward, narrowing his eyes, before they suddenly widen. "It's not broken," he declares, and Ka realizes the same moment as he. "The sun is _behind_ the moon. It's a solar eclipse! It's literally the darkest day in Fire Nation history! Now I get it." He grabs Aang's shoulders and begins shaking him back and forth as he speaks. "Something awful happened on that day. I don't know what, but I do know why. Firebenders lose their bending during a solar eclipse!" He shoves Aang back without realizing, and Ka catches him before he falls. Sokka winces. "Sorry."

"That make sense!" Katara gasps. "I mean, think of what the lunar eclipse at the North Pole did to the waterbenders. This is _huge._ "

It was not much of a lunar eclipse, Ka thinks. The moon was ripped from the sky, rather than it being covered up by the Earth's shadow.

The Knowledge Seeker rises up on its hind legs behind Sokka and holds its paws up as if to beg.

Sokka smiles. "Fine, you earned it." He rummages through his bag for a snack and tosses it to the fox, who catches it in its mouth. It walks around Ka's legs, its tail brushing her skin, before running off and out of the room.

Sokka then walks up to the others with a confident smile. "We've gotta get this information to the Earth King at Ba Sing Se. We'll wait for the next eclipse, and then we'll invade the Fire Nation when they're totally helpless. The Fire Lord is going down!"

" _Mortals are so predictable._ "

They whirl around to see Wan Shi Tong standing at the entrance, his monotone voice betraying his disappointed words.

" _And such terrible liars._ " Sokka gulps at his words. " _You betrayed my trust. From the beginning, you intended to misuse this knowledge for evil purposes._ " The spirit then looks towards Ka with a horribly sharp gaze. " _It's truly saddening to see a spirit dragged into human violence._ "

"You don't understand," Sokka urges. "If anyone's evil, it's the Fire Nation." He gestures his arm back, his eyebrows furrowed. "You saw what they did to your library. They're destructive and dangerous. We _need_ this information."

Wan Shi Tong is unfazed, his voice only growing louder and echoing further in the domed room. " _You think you're the first person to believe their war was justified? Countless others before you have come here seeking weapons or weakness or battle strategies._ "

Aang takes a step forward. "We had no choice," he pleads. "Please, we're just desperate to protect the people we love."

" _And now I'm going to protect what I love._ " Wan Shi Tong raises his wings, and when he begins flapping them, the library begins to tremble and shake.

"What are you doing?"

" _I'm taking my knowledge back,_ " Wan Shi Tong states, and _oh,_ if they stay, they will be forced into the Spirit World. " _No one will ever abuse it again._ "

Sand begins to pour from the ceilings and from the cracks in the floors. Katara looks over at her friends, her eyes frantic, "He's sinking the building. We've gotta get out of here!"

" _I'm afraid I can't allow that. You already know too much._ " And then the spirit is attacking them, his neck stretching impossibly far as he pursues them.

They just barely manage to avoid his first attack, running down the halls and over the vast expanse of the library. The owl spirit is fast, and the only way he does not catch up to them in time is the fact that Aang is continuously blowing air back at him to keep him at bay.

At the last moment, Sokka rounds the corner and begins running back towards the planetarium. Aang and Ka end up going with him. They check date after date—the ones before Sozin's Comet—and Ka's arms are just about getting sore with turning before suddenly the moon overlaps with the sun on a date just a few months away. They write the date on a piece of paper and run out of the planetarium just as it is engulfed with sand. The only way they escape is Sokka sneaking up to Wan Shi Tong from behind, and whacking him in the back of his head with a book. They manage to climb up the rope from where they came—except the professor refuses to leave. Ka does not know how he will fare in the Spirit World, but they leave without him regardless.

On the surface again, in the desert, when they finally jump out, Toph suddenly lets go of the pillar, falling back and groaning. The pillar shoots down into the sand and sinks, only a crater in the earth detailing its existence.

There is only one problem.

Appa is gone.

* * *

Toph tells them of sandbenders. How they snuck up on her while she was keeping the library above ground, how she tried to fend them off but ultimately had to make a choice. Ka cannot help but sympathize with her. It must have been a difficult choice.

Aang, however, is furious. His anger is so intense Ka feels it as well, and she takes a few steps away from everyone else to keep from blowing up like her Avatar.

"How could you let them take Appa!? Why didn't you stop them!?"

"I couldn't!" Toph shouts defensively. "The library was _sinking!_ You guys were still inside—"

"You could've come to get us! I could've saved him!"

"I can hardly feel any vibrations out here. The sandbenders snuck up on me and there wasn't time for—"

"You just didn't _care!_ You _never_ liked Appa! You wanted him _gone!_ "

Katara runs up, putting her hands on Aang's shoulders in an attempt to calm him down. "Aang, stop it," she says quickly. "You _know_ Toph did all she could. She saved our lives."

"Who's going to save our lives _now?_ " Sokka asks, looking across the vast desert with hopeless eyes. "We'll never make it out of here."

Aang stomps away from the rest of the group, settling next to Ka, his eyes blazed with fury. "That's all any of you guys care about, _yourselves!_ You don't care whether Appa is okay or not!"

"We're _all_ concerned," Katara urges, ever the patron saint, "but we can't afford to be fighting now."

Ka grabs Aang's sleeve, but he only shoves her away and turns towards the rest of his friends. In a cold, hard tone never before seen from him, he gives a _I'm going after Appa_ before spinning his glider open and taking off.

"Aang!" Ka shouts, Aang's frustration and despair evident in her tone.

"Aang, wait!" Katara calls, running after him before coming to a halt and watching him go with sad eyes. She clenches her fists and looks down at the ground before whirling around to face the group. "We'd better start walking. We're the only people who know about the solar eclipse. We have to get that information to Ba Sing Se."

They begin walking in the same direction as Aang took off, Ka looking up into the sky for any sight of her Avatar.

Sokka drags himself behind his sister, "You think if we dig out the giant owl, he'll give us a ride?"

"Not after that blow you gave him," Ka sighs, and the group falls into silence.

* * *

The sun is hot and it makes them all sweaty and sticky. It is not long until they are quite literally stuck together—Ka's clothes eventually meld with Sokka's, while Sokka's are stuck to Toph's. Toph eventually shoves them both off, and they drink a bit more of Katara's bending water—Ka's had run out some time ago.

Then Sokka finds a cactus sitting in the middle of the desert. He does not even seem to hesitate before running towards it and cutting off a side with his machete. A strange plant in the middle of the desert is apparently not weird enough, but the liquid inside is white-tinted and gives off a strange smell when Sokka chugs it down.

"Sokka, wait! You shouldn't be eating strange plants!"

Sokka gulps down another portion of the cactus juice and then excitedly holds out its contents towards the rest of his friends. "There's water trapped inside these!"

Katara backs away, putting an arm over Toph and leading her back as well. "I don't know..."

"Ka?" Sokka offers next.

She sighs in reply. "You should not be drinking that."

"Suit yourself," Sokka says, shrugging despite the large smile on his face. "It's very thirst-quenching though." All of a sudden, his pupils dilate and he rapidly shakes his head. Leaning forward, his voice has turned strange as he says, "Drink cactus juice. It'll quench ya! Nothing's quenchier. It's the _quenchiest!_ "

He starts to move and shake oddly. Ka wordlessly takes the juice from his hand and pours it onto the sand.

"I think you've had enough," Katara deadpans.

Sokka leans towards Toph, giving her a very odd stare, while the girl in question simply stares ahead of her, her entire body slumped over. "Who lit Toph on fire?"

Above them, Momo begins to fly around in circles, increasing his speed and becoming uncontrollable before he plummets to the ground, head-first into the sand. Ka picks him up out of the sand and cradles him, stroking over the fur on his head.

"Can I get some of that cactus?" Toph asks.

Katara wraps an arm around her shoulders and begins to lead them away. "I don't think that's a good idea. Come on, we need to find Aang."

They begin to walk away, but Sokka is still rooted to the ground, looking up into the sky with a dazed, far-off look. Ka runs back at the last moment to grab him by the wrist and lead him off.

"How did we get out here in the middle of the _ocean?_ "

Ka and Katara sigh in unison.

Suddenly, as they are climbing another dune, Ka has the sudden urge to scream into the heavens, and dust and sand suddenly washes over them. Turning, they see a giant mushroom cloud of sand in the distance, blowing ever higher and higher.

"What is that?" Katara asks.

Toph looks left and right rapidly. "What? What is what?"

Sokka suddenly spreads his arms out, looking towards the mushroom cloud with a big, excited smile. "It's a _giant_ mushroom. Maybe it's _friendly!_ "

Katara shares a worried look with Ka before taking Toph's hand and leading her away again. "Let's just keep moving. I hope Aang's okay..."

"Friendly mushroom! Mushy giant friend!"

* * *

Eventually, when twilight comes, Aang returns, his expression crestfallen and his face woebegone. His landing kicks up a small cloud of sand, and Ka blocks her eyes for a moment before frowning and walking over towards him. His sadness is beginning to affect her, bringing her entire mood and hopefulness down.

"I'm sorry, Aang," Katara says, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I know it's hard for you right now, but... we need to focus on getting out of here."

A few moments pass. Aang shrugs his shoulder away from her grip. "What's the difference?" he says softly. "We won't survive without Appa. We all know it."

"Come on, Aang," Katara tries. "We can do this if we work together. Right, Toph?"

Toph only kicks at the sand. "As far as I can feel, we're trapped in a giant bowl of sand pudding. I got nothin'."

"Ka?" Katara then asks.

She stands next to Aang, looking down at the ground, and remains silent.

Katara then turns to her brother, her hopeful voice slowly dying. "Sokka? Any ideas on how to find Ba Sing Se?"

Sokka, however, is still tripping on the cactus juice. He and Momo lie side-by-side on their backs, arms and legs stretched out. Sokka smiles blissfully, and points up at the sky, "Why don't we ask the circle birds?"

There are four buzzard wasps circling over their heads, awaiting their demise. Katara looks across her friends, looking more and more despondent at the second, before her eyebrows furrow and her eyes turn determined.

"Ugh..." Katara grabs her head with an annoyed groan. 'We're getting out of this desert, and we're going to do it together! Aang, get up. Everybody, hold hands. We can do this. We have to."

Katara pulls Aang along with his staff, leading everyone in the front, as Ka holds onto his hand from behind. Toph holds Ka's hand, while Sokka holds both Toph's hand and the end of Momo's tail as he lazily tries to fly in the other direction.

They walk and walk until night begins to fall. Katara suddenly comes to a halt on the top of a large dune.

"I think we should stop for the night."

Everyone behind her sighs in relief and falls down from exhaustion. Toph lifts her head momentarily to say, "Is there any more water?"

Katara kneels down and opens the cap to her pouch. "This is the last of it," she says. "Everyone can have a little drink." She bends the water from her pouch, but Momo suddenly leaps through it, causing the rest of it to fall into the sand.

Sokka claws at the sand with a horrified look. "Momo, _no!_ You've killed us all!"

Katara sighs. " _No,_ he hasn't," she informs, bending the water from the sand and back into her pouch, before handing the pouch to Toph.

"Oh, right... bending..."

"Sokka, let me see the things you got from the library."

" _What!?_ " Sokka shouts, backing away and holding his bag of scrolls protectively to his chest. "I didn't steal anything! Who told you that!?" He whirls around and points an accusing finger into Momo's face. "It was _you!_ _You ratted me out!_ "

"Sokka, I was there," Katara counters calmly, taking the bag from Sokka and digging through the scrolls.

"It doesn't matter," Aang speaks up, his voice sad. "None of those will tell us where Appa is."

Katara pauses for a moment, rolling out one scroll. "No," she then says carefully, "but we can find out which way Ba Sing Se is. We can use the stars to guide us." She looks at the scroll she holds, a map of the stars, and holds it up to the sky to compare the two. "That way we can travel at night when it's cool and rest during the day."

She is met with silence. The rest of the group lay in their respective spots in the sand, exhausted and ridden with grief.

Katara frowns. "Just try to get some sleep. We'll start again in a few hours."

* * *

They find themselves in some place called the Misty Palms Oasis. The tavern is ridden with weary travelers and men with rough appearances and large weapons.

"No one here is going to help us," he tells his uncle as much, irritated. "These people just look like filthy wanderers."

"So do we," Uncle counters, and before Zuko can reply he points someplace behind him. "Ah, now _this_ is interesting. I think I found our friend."

Zuko follows his uncle's finger, and turns to see an old man sitting quietly at a Pai Sho table, his arms folded in front of him calmly.

Spirits. Is he _crazy?_ "You brought us here to _gamble_ on Pai Sho?"

Uncle just smiles calmly. "I don't think this is a gamble."

He and his uncle rise from their own table and walk over to where the old man sits.

"May I have this game?" Uncle asks.

The old man gestures towards the seat across from him. "The guest has the first move." Uncle takes a seat and immediately places the lotus tile in the center of the board. The old man raises an eyebrow. "I see you favor the white lotus gambit. Not many still cling to the ancient ways." He cups his hands and bows towards him.

"Those who do can always find a friend."

"Then let us play."

Zuko takes a seat at the side of the table, watching with both awe and confusion as both men place their respective tiles on the board at impressive speeds, seemingly without even looking at what the other is doing. At the end, when they run out of tiles, the ones they had placed down form the shape of a lotus flower. Zuko blinks a few times—what is going _on?_

"Welcome, brother," says the old man. "The White Lotus opens wide to those who know her secrets."

"What are you old gasbags talking about?" Zuko demands, sick and tired of all the games and vague comments at every turn.

Uncle just smiles, not even turning to look at him. "I always tried to tell you that Pai Sho is more than just a game."

All of a sudden, a large, dark-skinned man rushes up towards them, followed by a smaller man in fancy clothes. "It's over!" the first man shouts. "You two fugitives are coming with me!"

The old man they had been playing with suddenly places himself between Uncle and Zuko and the two men, pointing at them. "I knew it! You two are wanted criminals with a giant bounty on your heads!"

"I thought you said he would help!" Zuko accuses.

Uncle places a hand on his shoulder. "He is," he urges quietly. "Just watch."

The old man whirls around to face the two men. "You think you're going to capture them and collect all that gold?"

"Gold?"

"Huh?"

At the word _gold,_ every person in the bar lifts their weapons and moves towards the commotion, grinning smugly. The man in the fancier clothes starts to back away nervously. But the larger man only smirks and attacks the first man who tries to come after him, bending a rock from underneath him and pushing him out of the way.

In the chaos, the old man takes Zuko and his uncle and quickly leads them out of the tavern. Huh. Maybe he really _is_ going to help, after all.

* * *

"It is an honor to welcome such a high-ranking member of the Order of the White Lotus." _What?_ What in the gods name is this old man _talking_ about? "Being a Grand Master, you must know so many secrets."

He's getting tired of this. "Now that you played Pai Sho," he says irritably, gesturing all around the flower shop, "are you going to do some flower arranging, or is someone in this club going to offer some _real_ help?"

"You must forgive my nephew," Uncle says, blatantly ignoring him. "He is not an initiate and has little appreciation for the cryptic arts."

The old man leads them to a door with a peephole in it. When he knocks twice, another man slides open the peephole and looks through, his eyes suspicious.

"Who knocks at the guarded gate?"

Uncle smiles. "One who has eaten the fruit and tasted its mysteries." The door opens, and Uncle and the old man walk through. When Zuko attempts to follow, the door slams shut right in his face. He pouts at the shut door, and frowns deeply when Uncle opens the peephole and says, "I'm afraid it's members only. Wait out here."

The peephole shuts. He huffs and folds his arms across his chest, and leans against a nearby table. The flowers in the room surely are beautiful, differing in colors and sizes. He leans over to sniff the one beside him, and blinks.

Smells nice.

* * *

They find a sandbender's glider buried in the sand. It leads them to a giant rock in the center of the desert. Unfortunately, that giant rock is occupied by hundreds of buzzard wasps, those of which attack them once they inadvertently walk into their home. They end up having to run off, and Ka earthbends rock after rock at the wasps that come after them. Momo gets snatched up by one, but Aang goes after him and promptly overkills the wasp when it flies away, and Ka feels it—startled by his merciless outburst.

Suddenly, giant pillars of sand rise from the ground and scare off the swarm, promptly saving them. Sandbenders appear from all corners, surrounding them, and Aang and Ka land in front of the rest of their friends, ready to face them.

"What are you doing in our land with a sandbender sailer?" one shouts, taking a few steps forward. He must be the leader. "From the looks of it, you stole it from the Hami tribe."

"We found the sailer abandoned in the desert," Katara quickly rebuts. "We're traveling with the Avatar and the Minder." She gestures to Aang and Ka, and the leader's eyes widen at the sight of them. "Our bison was stolen and we have to get to Ba Sing Se."

Another young man steps forward, his fists, clenched, and shouts aggressively, "You dare accuse our people of theft while you ride in on a stolen sand sailer!?"

"Quiet, Ghashiun!" the leader scolds. "No one accused our people of anything. _If_ what they say is true, we must give them hospitality."

"Sorry, father."

Toph's eyes suddenly widen, and she turns her head. "I recognize the son's voice," she says softly. "He's the one that stole Appa."

"Are you sure?" Katara asks, biting her lip.

"I _never_ forget a voice."

Aang charges forward, threateningly brandishing his staff towards the leader's son. "You stole Appa!" he shouts angrily. "Where is he!? What did you do to him!?"

Ka walks up to stand beside him, giving the young man a glare as she stands tall beside her Avatar. The man in question cowers back, looking fearful.

"They're lying!" he tries. " _They're_ the thieves!"

Gritting his teeth, Aang growls in frustration and smacks his staff against the ground, obliterating one of the sandbender's sailers with a powerful blade of air. Then, turning back towards the sandbenders, his eyebrows twitch in fury. " _Where_ is my bison? You tell me where he is now!"

When none of the sandbenders utter a word, Ka furrows her eyebrows and sends a strong blast of air towards another sailer, blowing it to pieces.

"What did you do?" the leader demands of his son, sounding horrified.

"I-It wasn't me!"

Toph points a finger and shouts, "You said to put a _muzzle_ on him!"

"You _muzzled_ Appa?" Aang and Ka demand in unison, and their eyes and tattoos begin to glow as they destroy the last of the sandbender's sailers with a simultaneous air blast.

"I'm sorry!" the leader's son cries, almost in tears. "I didn't know that it belonged to you!"

" _TELL ME WHERE APPA IS!_ "

"I-I traded him!" Ghashiun confesses, taking a step back. "To some merchants! He's probably in Ba Sing Se by now. They were going to sell him there!" The Avatar and the Minder's shared glare only gets stronger, and the sandbenders begin to back away. "Please! We'll escort you out of the desert; we'll help however we can!"

The wind around the two of them beings to swirl violently. Sokka grabs onto Toph and starts to run, "Just get out of here! Run!"

Aang's staff falls from his hands. The wind around he and Ka forms into a fast-moving sphere, knocking sand high into the sky and lifting the two up into the air. Katara steps forward sadly, grabbing onto their wrists—turning back with an enraged expression, they are only met with her sincere gaze. She pulls them back to the ground and presses Aang close against her chest, with one of her arms wrapped around Ka. The wind becomes less rough, and Sokka and Toph slowly step forward when the air sphere dissolved away.

Aang is in tears. They stream down his face.

His overwhelming, heartbreaking sadness is too much for Ka to not feel it. She raises her hands to cover her eyes as she begins to cry.

* * *

They escape the desert and find a waterfall pond. They suppose they deserve a quick break in the water after being trapped in the desert for days. Sokka, his head finally cleared of cactus juice, observes one of the maps he took from the library from a nearby rock. Toph sits with her feet in the water as Aang bends an ice cube around himself as he swims.

Ka lays down beside Toph, her clothes discarded and residing only in her wrappings, the top of her head submerged in the water, her hair flowing out in every direction. She closes her eyes, focusing on the heat of the sun and the coolness of the water. She reaches up to comb her fingers through her hair—if her suspicions are true, and her hair really is the only part of her that she herself owns, she wants to care for it as much as possible.

"Don't like swimming, Goddess?" Toph jokes.

Ka opens one eye to glance at her. "I'm just focusing on my hair right now."

"Whatever you say."

From on top of the waterfall, there is a huge burst of laughter, and Katara is shouting _Waterbending bomb!_ as she cannonballs into the water. The splash sends Aang flying, and soaks the rest of her friends who sit on the side. Ka frowns, lifting her head out of the water, her wet hair flying to the front of her face and sticking to it.

Sokka groans and holds up his now-wet map. "Sure, five thousand-year old maps from the spirit library. _Just_ splash some water on 'em."

Katara smiles sheepishly and wrings the water form her hair. "Sorry." She reaches up and bends the water from the map, letting it drop back into the pond. Sokka shakes the map to make sure it's dry and then drapes it over his lap.

The rest of the group scoots up. Ka takes a comb from Sokka's bag and brushes her hair out with it.

"Do we know what path we are taking?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Okay," Sokka says, pointing along the map, "we just got out of the desert, so we must be around here. And we need to go to Ba Sing Se, which is here." He then shifts his finger to a very thin line of land across from where they stand and where the grand city is. "It looks like the only passage connecting the south to the north is this sliver on land called the _Serpent's Pass._ "

"You _sure_ that's the best way to go?" Toph asks.

"It's the _only_ way," Sokka replies matter-of-factly. "I mean, it's not like we have _Appa_ to fly us there."

"Shush up about Appa," Katara says quickly and quietly. "Can't you at least _try_ to be sensitive?" Following her words, she and the rest of them turn to Aang to give him worried and sympathetic looks.

Aang, his knees tucked his chest, closes his eyes. "Katara, it's okay. I know I was upset about losing Appa before, but I just want to focus on getting to Ba Sing Se and telling the Earth King about the solar eclipse."

A lot of his newfound decisions have come from heavy conversation with Ka. Nonetheless, she is proud, while the rest of his friends give him surprised looks.

"Oh... well," Katara says, "okay. I'm glad you're doing better."

Sokka quickly stands up, turning away. "Then to Ba Sing Se we go. No more distractions."

Three more distractions suddenly appear. "Hello there, fellow refugees!"

Sokka gives a hearty sigh. The three refugees walk up, one of whom being very heavily pregnant.

"So, are you guys headed to Ba Sing Se, too?" Aang asks.

"Sure are," says the man, Than, and then he reaches over to pat his wife's large stomach. "We're trying to get there before my wife Ying has her baby."

"Great!" Katara says with a big smile. "We can travel through the Serpent's Pass together."

The three refugees promptly gasp, and Ying holds a hand over her mouth as she says, "The Serpent's Pass? Only the truly _desperate_ take that deadly route!"

"Deadly route," Toph repeats, and then punches Sokka in the arm with a grin. " _Great_ pick, Sokka!"

Sokka rubs at his arm. "Well, we _are_ desperate."

"You should come with us to Full Moon Bay," Than suggests. "Ferries take refugees across the lake. It's the fastest way to Ba Sing Se."

"And it's hidden," Ying adds, "so the Fire Nation can't find it."

Katara pretends to ponder over the two choices for a moment, an amused smile on her face. "Hmm... peaceful ferry ride or deadly pass?"

Sokka pouts.

* * *

"Who would have thought after all these years, I'd return to the scene of my greatest military disgrace—" Uncle whirls around with a floral hat perched atop his head, a large smile on his face. "—as a tourist!"

 _Ugh._ Zuko tightens his grip on the railing of the ferry, staring into the ocean that surrounds them. He had missed this, the smell of salt on the sea, the splash of water from standing on the edge. Being at sea for three years with no end in sight makes one used to it. This is a familiar scene. He can handle this.

"Look around. We're not tourists, we're refugees." He takes a sip of the food he was given and spits it out immediately. Okay—maybe he _can't_ handle this. "Ugh!" The taste is horrid; he suddenly feels like vomiting over the side. "I'm sick of eating rotten food, sleeping in the dirt. I'm tired of living like this!"

"Aren't we all?" comes a sudden voice, and Zuko turns to see a boy his age walk out of the shadows with two people behind him. His skin is tanned and scarred and his face dons an almost permanent smirk. "My name's Jet," he says, and gestures towards the people behind him, "and these are my Freedom Fighters, Smellerbee and Longshot."

"Hey," Smellerbee says. Longshot only nods silently. It reminds him of someone.

Zuko turns to look back out at the sea. "Hello." This boy is _very_ handsome—it makes him feel almost self-conscious.

"Here's the deal," Jet says, coming up beside him, leaning far too close to him for comfort. His breath is hot on his face. "I hear the captain's eating like a king while us refugees have to feed off his scraps. Doesn't seem fair, does it?"

Uncle leans over to ask, "What sort of king is he eating like?"

"The fat, happy kind." Uncle's mouth hangs open and he starts to drool hungrily. Zuko resists the urge to roll his eyes, and instead looks back towards the boy in front of him. "You want to help us _liberate_ some food?"

He looks down at the bowl of gross scraps in his hand, and chucks it into the water as far as he can. It feels good. "I'm in," he tells Jet.

Jet just smirks at him. It's kind of unfair how attractive he is.

* * *

"Um, five tickets for the ferry to Ba Sing Se, please."

The ticket lady is very intimidating. Ka's eyes trail after the sobbing cabbage merchant as he is carried away by guards; she feels pity for him.

"Passports?" the lady demands.

Aang falters, "Uh... no one told us we had to have passports."

"Don't you know who these two are? " Sokka breaks in, shoving in between them with an arm around their necks. "They're the Avatar and the Minder!"

The ticket lady only eyes them up and down, and then scoffs, unfazed. "I see fifty Avatars and Minders a day, and, by the way, not a very impressive costume." She gestures towards the small group of fake Avatars and even smaller group of fake Minders. Aang nods approvingly, while Ka just raises her eyebrows in both astonishment and wonder. The ticket lady suddenly notices Momo, and points at him. "Besides, no animals allowed. Do I need to call security?"

Beside them, a platypus bear chomps down on the cabbage, breaking it into pieces. Momo scours into Ka's hair to hide, chittering fearfully.

Aang takes a step back, his hands up in surrender. "That won't be necessary."

"Next! "

Toph casually strolls by them, "I'll take care of this." She walks up to the ticket lady and pushes a fancy, shining passport in front of her. "My name is Toph Beifong, and I'll need five tickets."

The ticket lady gasps, her eyes sparkling in awe. "Ah, the golden seal of the flying boar!" she exclaims, and bows where she sits. "It is my pleasure to help anyone of the Beifong family."

"It _is_ your pleasure," Toph says. "As you can see, I am blind, and these four imbeciles are my valets." She sweeps her arm behind her, presenting her friends, where they stand all huddled together in a hug, smiling. Ka rolls her eyes.

"But," the hesitant clerk says, "the animal—"

"—is my seeing-eye lemur."

The ticket lady pauses, and looks down at the passport. "Well, normally it's only one ticket per passport, but this document is _so_ official... I _guess_ it's worth five tickets." She stamps approval seals onto five tickets, and bows as Toph reaches up to take them with a _Thank you very much._

Walking away, Sokka grins as he holds up one of the tickets. "All right, we scammed that lady good!"

All of a sudden, a guard yanks him backwards by his shirt and holds out her hand expectantly. "Tickets and passports, please," she demands.

Ka's eyes widen. She knows that voice, and that face. But everyone else does not seem to, and especially not Sokka.

"Is there a problem?" Sokka asks nervously, visibly sweating.

"Yeah, I got a problem with you!" Suki says, playing the role, jabbing a finger into Sokka's chest. "I've seen your type before. Probably sarcastic, think you're hilarious, and let me guess, you're traveling with the Avatar and the Minder."

Sokka blinks, and then furrows his eyebrows. "Do I know you?"

"You mean you don't remember? Maybe you'll remember _this._ " She leans over to kiss Sokka on the cheek, and _that_ is when he finally recognizes her.

"Suki!" Sokka exclaims, his cheeks pink, and he leans over to embrace her tightly.

Suki grins when she pulls back. "Sokka, it's good to see you!"

* * *

She takes them to a more private area of the station to catch up before their ferry leaves. She leans on the railing as the others sit on the benches, Aang and Ka on the railing beside them.

"You look so different without your makeup!" Katara exclaims. "And the new outfit."

Suki gives a dry laugh. "That crabby lady makes all the security guards wear them," she says, and then smiles at Sokka with interested eyes. "And look at _you,_ sleeveless guy. Been working out?"

Sokka smirks and rolls his shoulders. "Ah, I'll grab a tree branch and do a few chin touches every now and then. Nothing major." He pats his muscles, and Katara gives him a weird look.

"Are the other Kyoshi Warriors around?" Aang asks.

"Yeah!" Suki replies, smiling. Ka notes that she looks very beautiful even without makeup. "After you left Kyoshi, we wanted to find a way to help people. We ended up escorting some refugees and we've been here ever since." Momo jumps up next to her and chitters. Suki smiles and scratches his head, "Hi, Momo! Good to see you too!" After a moment, she scans her eyes across the group. "So why are you guys getting tickets for the ferry? Wouldn't you just fly across on Appa?"

Silence passes over the group. The good mood falls.

"Appa is missing," Katara eventually explains. "We hope to find him in Ba Sing Se."

Suki frowns. "I'm so sorry to hear that," she says genuinely, and then turns to look over at Aang. "Are you doing okay?"

When Aang looks up, he sees the faces of all of his friends looking at him in concern. Minus Toph and Ka—Toph because she _never_ really looks at anyone directly, and Ka because she knows better. Aang bites the inside of his cheek and goes, "I'm doing fine. Would everybody stop worrying about me?"

"Avatar Aang! Minder Ka!" comes the voice of Ying, and they look down to see her, her husband, and her sister-in-law watching them desperately from below, "you have to help us! Someone took all of our belongings; our passports, our tickets, _everything's_ gone!" She buries her face into her husband's shoulder, and covers her eyes with her hands.

Aang and Ka look at each other and then back at the crying woman. "We'll talk to the lady for you."

* * *

The ticket lady does not care a bit about their predicament.

"No passports, no tickets!" she shouts, and stamps a _denied_ stamp on Aang's forehead.

"She is _pregnant,_ " Ka urges.

"All of her stuff was stolen!" Aang continues.

"You _have_ to make an exception," they finish in unison.

The ticket lady leans back a bit, looking a little confused. "No exceptions!" she then declares. "If I just gave away tickets willy-nilly to anyone, there would be no more order! You know what that means? No more civilization!"

"What if we gave them _our_ tickets?"

"No!"

"But—"

"Next!"

Her spit flies into their faces, and they walk back to the refugees and their friends and meet their worried looks. When Aang looks at Ka, she knows he is thinking the same thing.

"Don't worry, you'll get to the city safely," Aang reassures.

Ka nods. "We will lead you through the Serpent's Pass."

They give their tickets to people who need them more than they do, and meet up with the refugees at the exit of Full Moon Bay.

"I can't believe we gave up our tickets and now we're going through the Serpent's Pass," Sokka complains, as if going through the dangerous path was not his idea in the first place.

"I can't believe you're still complaining about it," Toph speaks up.

Suddenly, Suki, in her full Kyoshi Warrior attire and makeup, runs towards them, panting. "I'm coming too!" she declares.

Sokka stops in his tracks. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Suki, confused, tilts her head and gives him a weird look. "Sokka, I thought you'd _want_ me to come."

"I do, it's just—"

"Just _what?_ "

"Nothing. I'm glad you're coming."

When Suki walks away, Sokka suddenly dons a worried look. Ka walks up to him, putting a hand on his shoulder and wordlessly asking what could be wrong. He only looks at her and sighs.

"It's nothing," he says. "Don't worry about it, Ka."

He is obviously lying, but she does not press the issue any further.

* * *

The Serpent's Pass is a thin, jagged, dark, rocky path in the middle of the vast ocean. There is a sign above the beginning, and as Ka looks out at the expanse of rock, she wonders just how easy it would be for them to slip off and disappear into the depths of the ocean.

Crossing the pass is a lot easier said than done. They are spotted by a Fire Nation ship, nearly destroyed by fireballs, and Aang's block of his own emotions leads to Ka feeling more and more like the person she was when she lived in the Spirit World.

Night falls, and they rest for the night. Ka ponders about how she can possibly fix her Avatar.

When the next day comes, they are attacked by a serpent, to almost no surprise. The serpent nearly causes Toph to drown, but they manage to save her just in time. Aang, Ka, and Katara fend off the beast by trapping it into a whirlpool and slamming it into a mountain.

After that, they finally exit the Serpent's Pass. The walls of Ba Sing Se are visible in the distance

"There's the wall! Now it's nothing but smooth sailing to Ba Sing Se!"

"Oh no!" Ying suddenly groans, clutching her stomach and nearly doubling over. Than grabs onto her from behind, keeping her upright.

"What's wrong?" Sokka asks.

Ying looks up with a panic. "The baby's coming!"

" _What?_ " Sokka gasps, almost incapable of words. His eyes widen and his jaw drops so wide that Ka feels like closing it so bugs will not fly in. " _Now?_ Can't you—hold it in or something?"

"Sokka, calm down," Katara says. "I helped Gran-Gran deliver _lots_ of babies back home."

"This isn't the same as delivering an arctic seal! This is a real... human... _thing!_ "

Her hands on her hips, Katara frowns. "It's called a _baby,_ and I helped her deliver plenty of _those,_ too." She turns her attention to the rest of her friends, as Than helps his wife to sit on the ground against the rock wall. "Aang, get some rags. Sokka, water. Toph, I need you to make an earth tent, a _big_ one." She promptly does as she is told, earthbending the rock below them into a large tent that surrounds Ying. "Suki, Ka, come with me."

She follows, albeit a bit nervously. She herself was not a normal birth, so what would _she_ know about delivering a baby?

Katara seems to trust her, however, so she walks in regardless.

* * *

They end up liberating food. He eats better than he has in weeks.

But the crowd around him, with Jet and his Freedom Fighters, becomes too much for him to handle. He walks to the side of the ship where he can be alone, with no prying eyes and no one to stare at him, or at his scar, or at his eyes.

The mist from the sea splashes at his face, and he inhales slowly. Upon hearing footsteps, he clenches his fist tighter against the railing, bracing himself for whoever is coming.

"You know," comes Jet's voice, and the owner comes to a stop beside him, "as soon as I saw your scar, I knew exactly who you were."

He knew it. They know. He knows. He's about to be turned over to his sister and then he'll have to face his father—

"You're an outcast. Like me." Oh. "And us outcasts have to stick together." Oh, false alarm. "We have to watch each other's backs. Because no one else will."

Zuko turns his face away. "I've realized lately that being on your own isn't always the best path." His exile, and his days without his ship has given him much time to think. He's realized things, some of them less favorable than others.

Jet suddenly gets closer, and presses a hand to his chin, turning his face towards him with the tiniest of smirks.

"It sure isn't," he murmurs against his lips before he kisses him, soft and chaste.

* * *

Ka is tasked with wiping Ying's forehead with sweat as she gives birth. Katara and Suki sit at the opposite end with her, between her legs, urging her to push and relax, prepared for the baby to come out at any moment.

Ying breathes heavily, squeezing her husband's hand in what looks like a painful grip. Ka bends more water onto her forehead, and brushes her hair back.

"You're doing great, Ying," Katara reassures, patting her leg, and then turns back towards the outside of the tent. "Sokka, where's that water?" Looking back towards Ying, she clenches her fists. "Now, get ready to push. One... two... three, push!"

At that moment, Sokka enters, goes pale, and immediately passes out. Toph ends up dragging him out of the tent so they can finish the job in peace. A few heart-pounding moments later, a cry echoes through the tent, and Katara laughs breathlessly as she pulls out a tiny, screaming baby.

"It's a girl!" she calls, and cuts the cord before wrapping the baby in a spare blanket.

The others trail in to see the baby, and Katara hands her to her mother before pulling another blanket over Ying's body. Ka finds herself smiling at the sight of the baby, much to the surprise of her friends. She ignores them when they point it out, and walk away from the new parents to stand beside Katara.

"She _sounds_ healthy," Toph says.

"She's beautiful."

Sokka just tilts his had. "It's so... squishy-looking."

When Ka looks over, Aang is smiling, brighter than she has seen him in the past few days.

"What should we name her?" Than asks, looking down at his daughter like she is the world. Ka almost envies the child.

"I want our daughter's name to be unique," Ying says, stroking her daughter's face. "I want it to mean something."

Aang wipes away the tears that fall down his face, and walks further into the tent. "I've been going through a really hard time lately. But you've made me... _hopeful_ again."

New life always brings joy into old lives. Ka tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and takes her Avatar's hand with another soft smile.

"I know what I want to name our baby now," Ying then says. "Hope."

"That's a _perfect_ name," Than agrees, his voice quiet. "Hope."

They leave the tent, leaving the couple inside to talk some more. Aang and Ka stand before their friends, their plans already set and made.

"I thought I was trying to be strong," Aang starts, looking away. "But really I was just running away from my feelings. Seeing this family together, so full of happiness and love, it's reminded me how I feel about Appa..." He looks up at Katara with a smile, full of pure warmth and love. "And how I feel about you."

Katara wipes her eyes and runs up to him, embracing him tightly. When she pulls away, she moves to hug Ka as well.

"I promise, we'll find Appa as soon as we can," Aang says when Katara pulls away from both of them. "We just really need to do this."

"You sure you wish for me to come with you?" Ka asks.

"Of course." Aang nods, as if the answer was obvious. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Ka resists the urge to break into a big grin, and she only bites her lip to keep it from showing.

"See you in the big city," Sokka says.

"Say hi to that big fuzzball for me," Toph says, but finishes it with a punch to the arm.

"You'll find him, Aang," Katara assures, nodding.

"I know," Aang _says,_ opening his glider. "Thank you, Katara." He then turns to Ka and Momo. "You ready?"

They fly off, Ka on her usual spot on top of Aang's glider, Momo beside them, their friends waving goodbye.

* * *

The outer wall of Ba Sing Se is grand and large, spanning out for miles. Thy fly up the side, and up to the top, marveling at the vast expanse of the city before them.

But then Ka turns her head.

Tugging on Aang's sleeve, she wordlessly points to the large Fire Nation drill that heads for the wall, steam pouring from the sides as it chugs along.

Aang visibly deflates, fear written all over his face.

"Appa's going have to wait."

* * *

 **oh my! lmao. don't worry, zuko and ka are still endgame. still, i wonder what kind of hate i'll get now?**

 **anywho, we're in ba sing se now! exciting! for next chapter, we have: the drill, the city of walls and secrets, the tales of ba sing se, (i'll probably mention appa's lost days but not get into them fully), and _maybe_ lake laogai (i doubt it). ka and zuko are finally going to interact more, lol. exciting, no?**


	12. season two: episodes 13-16

**(edit: it's come to my attention that there is a glitch with this chapter that prevents it from appearing. i've tried posting this 3 times, but to no avail.)**

 **yes. i know this is a month late. i was very busy and didn't have the time to sit down and write anything out.**

 **well, i'm here now. enjoy this chapter - it's one of my favorites so far.**

* * *

The rest of the team and the refugees make it to the top of the wall. The drill is impossible to hide now.

"We made it to Ba Sing Se," Ying sobs, wrapping her arms around her newborn protectively, as she and her family looms over the side of the wall to stare hopelessly at the drill, "and we're still not safe. No one is!"

Just as Ka is about to assure them _no, we will be fine_ , an earthbending guard stomps over to him and shouts, "What are you people doing here? Civilians aren't allowed on the wall!"

Ka firmly decides right then and there that she will not give up. Not on these people, not on the refugees, or any other citizen of Ba Sing Se. She sees Aang step up, and takes a few quick steps forward to stand before the guard with a hard gaze.

"I am the Minder," she declares firmly, gesturing back towards her surprised companions, "and this is my Avatar. Take us to whoever is in charge."

* * *

The Earth Kingdom general in charge of the Outer Wall seems undeterred, sitting behind a desk rather calmly. He smiles as if the looming threat just outside the wall is as harmless as a sunrise.

"It is an honor to welcome you to the Outer Wall, young Avatar and Minder," he says, looking between them, "but your help is not needed."

Aang frowns. "Not needed?" he repeats incredulously.

" _Not_ needed," the general confirms, nodding once. "I have the situation under control. I assure you the Fire Nation cannot penetrate this wall." He stands and begins to walk away from his desk, out into the sun and near the edge of the Outer Wall, gazing out into the city with a wistful look. "Many have tried to break through it, but none have succeeded."

"What about the Dragon of the West?" Toph suddenly speaks up from the back of the group. "He got in."

Sweating slightly, and looking more than a little taken aback, the general fumbles over his words as he says, "Well... uh... _technically,_ yes, but he was _quickly_ expunged!" He clears his throat. Toph pouts a little. "Nevertheless, that is why the city is named Ba Sing Se. It's the _impenetrable city._ They don't call it _Na_ Sing Se!" He laughs for a moment, but subsequently turns serious in the next. "That means _penetrable city._ "

"Yeah, thanks for the tour," Toph drawls, crossing her arms over her chest, "but we still got the drill problem."

" _Not_ for long!" the general says, walking towards the other side where more earthbending soldiers stand with piles of rocks beside them. "To stop it, I've sent an elite platoon of earthbenders called the _Terra Team._ "

Sokka smirks in approval. "That's a good group name. Very catchy."

Ka leans over to gaze down at the general's supposed elite team. The earthbenders have made themselves trenches near the wall, where they sit and await their chance to attack. A few run out from the trenches and onto the ground, overthrowing one tank in a simultaneous move, before charging closer to the drill. They wedge large earth spikes into the side of the drill in order to stop it, but the drill's segments separate, and reduce the columns to literal dust. Suddenly, escaping out as the drill hisses, the Fire Nation girls that had been in the princess' team emerge. The darkly-dressed one hurls daggers at the earthbenders, causing them to have to retreat farther and farther back. The pinker one lands gracefully in front of the earthbenders, moving to avoid their attacks as if she was dancing, flipping and bending and poking all of their vital areas until they are useless heaps on the ground.

The Earth Kingdom general looks up in horror from his telescope, and promptly flails his arms in the air in panic. "We're doomed!"

Sokka slaps him across the face. "Get a hold of yourself, man!"

The general sniffles, rubbing his cheek and pouting. "You're right. I'm sorry."

Toph raises an eyebrow from her place. " _Maybe_ you'd like the Avatar's and Minder's help _now?_ "

The general scoots until he stands humbly before the two of them, his head bowed in defeat. "Yes, please," he murmurs meekly.

When he leaves and the group is left to craft their game plan, they spend a few quiet moments overlooking the wall towards the drill. Ka finds her gaze drifting towards where the city sits. Most of them must be completely unaware of the danger that threatens them. Thousands of people, living in safety, most after narrowly escaping death and destruction at the hands of the Fire Nation, are in even more danger. Ka could never understand how heartbreaking it would be to know that.

She decides they will never know that kind of fear again, even if she knows she is being unrealistic, and becomes more determined than _ever_ to stop the Fire Nation where they stand.

"I've never heard you talk that loud," Katara says suddenly, looking over at her with wide, curious eyes, "or that determined! What's gotten into you lately?"

Ka raises an eyebrow. "You see me as undetermined?"

Sokka scratches his chin in thought. "More like... _aloof_. Distant, I guess."

Ka frowns, and looks back towards the drill. "Just because I am often afraid to speak my mind does not mean I am uncaring," she says firmly, clenching her fists against the solid railing of the wall. She turns to give Sokka a hard gaze, harder than the one she gave the guards before. "There is a whole city in danger. We must think of a plan."

Sokka looks almost startled. Everyone turns their heads to him.

"Why are you all looking at me?"

"You're the idea guy," Aang says, as if it was obvious. Ka nods after a moment in agreement.

"So _I'm_ the only one who can _ever_ come up with a plan?" he very pointedly complains. "That's a _lot_ of pressure!"

"And also the complaining guy," Katara adds.

"That part I don't mind."

* * *

They go to the makeshift medical wing of the Outer Wall, where injured Terra Team soldiers lie on cots, paralyzed and groaning from the pain. Ka and Katara attempt to heal them as best they can, but the fact that their chi is blocked makes it rather difficult.

"What's wrong with him?" the general asks in confusion. "He doesn't look injured."

"His injures run far deeper than physical," Ka murmurs, taking her hands away from a soldier's chest.

"His chi is blocked," Katara clarifies, and removes her hands from a solider's arm, the water dripping off when she stops. "Who did this to you?"

"Two girls ambushed us," the soldier replies, his voice strained from his lack of mobility. "One of them hit me with a bunch of quick jabs and suddenly I couldn't earthbend anymore and I could barely move. Then she cartwheeled away."

Apparently the others had not been watching as closely as Ka. It is only until the soldier's last words that Katara realizes just who the attackers were.

"Ty Lee," she gasps, apparently having learned her name when Ka had not. "She doesn't look dangerous, but she knows the human body and its weak points. It's like she takes you down from the inside."

Sokka suddenly gives a loud, excited shout of _Ooh, ooh, ooh!_

"Yes?" Katara urges, raising an eyebrow.

"What you just said!" he says, clenching his fists and pumping them. "That's how we're going to take down the drill! The same way Ty Lee took down all those big earthbenders!"

Realizing where he is going with this, Toph grins. "By hitting its pressure points."

Aang looks over the wall, his determination reinvigorated. "We'll take it down from the inside."

* * *

Jet kisses him about three more times before the ferry reaches Ba Sing Se.

Neither of them talk about it. They don't mention it, or imply anything could've happened. No one suspects a thing.

It all confuses Zuko. He doesn't know how he feels about it—the kisses are nice, soft, not too much or too little. He doesn't ask about them. Jet doesn't give him any warning when he kisses him.

He wonders what will become of them when they reach the city. If he will see him more, if they will talk more. Jet even offers him a spot in the Freedom Fighters.

He's not interested, but it doesn't matter anyway.

Jet sees his uncle heat up his tea. Seems their relationship is over before it even starts.

* * *

They sneak inside the drill from underneath, without Toph. The youngest member of the team opts for trying to slow it down from outside. They steal a schematic of the drill from an engineer, and rush towards the braces that connect the inner and outer parts of the drill.

Their plan is to slice through the braces with water—the idea is good, but in practice, it is tiring.

 _Together, we're team Ava-Mind... er,_ Sokka tries, in an attempt to boost their morale, screaming from the sidelines while the others do all the work.

"Surely you can think of a better name than that," Ka mutters after managing to get through half of the brace. To get through one takes too long—if breaking just this one does not destroy it, then surely doing the others would be impossible.

When the drill creaks, they think they have done it, but an announcement through the overhead speaker proves them wrong, giving them the dreadful news that _the drill has made contact with the wall of Ba Sing Se! Start the countdown to victory!_

The others then go to try and push the brace. Ka looks across the array of braces, and the one that they have just broke through. She bites her lip, and then stomps her foot against the metal ground to gather her friends attention.

"We do not need to cut all the way through," she says, her throat not even straining. It surprises her so much that she pauses before continuing. "Toph has been teaching us that you should never give one hundred percent into one strike."

Aang perks up, gasping. "Yeah! You've got to be quick and accurate, hitting a series of points to break your opponent's stance."

"When they are reeling back—" Ka then says.

"—you deliver the final blow," they finish together.

"So we just need to weaken the braces," Katara gathers, stroking her chin thoughtfully, "instead of cutting all the way through!"

Aang grins. "Then we'll go to the top of this thing and deliver the final blow."

"And _boom!_ " Sokka wipes his arm down in emphasis. "It all comes crashing down."

Their plan begins to work. They slice through several braces only halfway, weakening each one right after the other. It is not until they are on the last one that they were eventually caught.

"Good work, Team Ava-Minder! Now Aang and Ka just need to— _duck!_ "

A blast of blue fire suddenly comes their way, and the Fire Nation Princess suddenly jumps out and attacks them. They end up splitting their separate ways, Sokka and Katara going one way, and Aang and Ka going to the top of the drill. When they make it outside, the drill is already deep into the wall. Ka feels her stomach drop at the sight of it, and they have to run to avoid the rocks that are being hurtled down towards them. The princess follows them out, skidding across the metal and doing everything in her power to stop them.

Ka distracts the princess by blocking her attacks and sending her backwards as Aang bends water into the drill and then embeds a makeshift, rocky wedge into it. He runs up the wall, scaling its side with an air scooter, before propelling downwards and leaps onto the wedge, creating a large ripple effect that causes the sliced braces inside the drill to collapse. The drill falls apart and stops moving, after the front had just barely broken the inside of the wall.

They escape the princess, and win. Ba Sing Se is safe.

* * *

They look over the city on the wall, watching the sunset fall over the horizon. And Sokka will not relent on the team names.

"I just want to say, good effort out there today, Team Ava-Minder!"

Katara scoffs, unamused. "Enough with the Team Ava-Minder stuff." She folds her arms across her chest. "No matter how many times you say it, it's not going to catch on."

Sokka thinks for a moment, and then reaches behind his back to pull out his boomerang. "How about—the _Boomerang Squad!_ See, it's good because it's got _Aang_ in it." He leans over to point at Aang with a wide grin. "Boomer _aang._ "

Aang smiles. "I kind of like that one."

Katara frowns. "That one doesn't have Ka in it, though," she says, and then turns to begin walking away. "Let's talk about this on our way into the city."

"The Kaang Gang?"

"Sokka."

"The Fearsome Fivesome?"

"You're crazy."

"Why? We're fearsome!"

* * *

The woman sent to escort them to their new home is unnerving and strange. Ka does not like her, but pities her, for her words seem too forced and fake for her to be doing this willingly. Her eyes are blank and lifeless. She seems to never look at them directly, and everything they say to her is practically ignored.

The different walls also unnerve her. All of the poor are blocked off from the middle-class and the rich. It seems unfair. It is unfair.

They pass the palace. And a group of men who look serious and hateful. They stare at them as the carriage goes by, and Ka cannot help but feel as if they know exactly who they are and why they are here.

They make it to their new residence, a beautiful and lavish home in the Upper Ring. They are told that they cannot see the king for a month—

— _six to eight weeks, actually—_

—and they end up being escorted across the different areas in hopes of finding any mention of Appa, his whereabouts, or any sign of him. Everyone they ask seems nervous and terrified, and gives them no possible answer. There is no mention of the war.

They go back home, and eventually are given the opportunity to meet the Earth King at a party at his palace for his pet bear. Toph and Katara are decorated in beautiful, traditional Earth Kingdom dresses. The others are donned in busboy outfits.

 _You'd be too noticeable with your hair and eyes,_ Katara relented, and Ka could not help but agree.

The plan, however, goes disastrous. Their identities are revealed, and they are taken into the back of the palace to meet a man named Long Feng. He is the brains behind the operation—the king is just his puppet to weave and manipulate to his will.

 _All talk of conflict is silenced,_ he says. _Ba Sing Se remains peaceful._

He gives Ka a bad vibe. She clenches her fists at these words.

They are told if they mention the war to anyone, they will be expelled from the city, and unable to complete their quest. The mention of Appa angers all of them—how could he _know?_ What has he _done?_ They cannot ask, for they are too fearful what could happen.

And so their escort, Joo Dee, comes to fetch them and take them to their home.

There is just one issue—it is not the same Joo Dee.

* * *

They have a month to kill. Ka spends her time, when they are not looking for Appa, exploring the different wings of the city.

The Upper Ring is fancy but rather unfavorable to her. The people that live there are rude about her appearance and the way she speaks. She spends as little as possible there.

The Middle Ring is filled with hardworking, artistic people. There are many markets that Ka finds herself at.

The Lower Ring is scary at times but definitely her favorite. The people there are kind and honest—most of them, anyway—and the smile that graces their faces when they learn she is the Minder is worth coming down for. They sell many beautiful, handmade things, and Ka ends up giving away most of her money to the poor, and to those who need it most.

One day, she finds a tea shop.

* * *

Jet outs them as firebenders to their entire shop. He is eventually dragged away by Dai Li agents, and Zuko does not see him again.

He feels awful. Not just physically, from the wounds Jet had given them during his fight, but because he knows what his nation has done to people like him. He thinks about it the rest of the week, even when he tells his uncle that he doesn't care and has forgotten about it.

The only thing that takes his mind off of it is when his uncle comes into the back room one day while he is washing dishes, and eagerly tells him that there is a guest he is _certain_ he should serve.

He doesn't understand his uncle sometimes. Zuko just rolls his eyes and tightens his apron before walking out. It's not a very busy day—a few groups scattered here and there and a few people sitting alone. The smell is tea is _everywhere_ and hopelessly unbearable. He cannot wait to get out of this damn city, to be back in the Fire Nation where it's warm and always smells like fire lilies, where—

Wait.

Zuko sees a _terrifyingly_ familiar face sitting at the table closest to the door. The person sitting there is waiting patiently, tapping their foot lightly, and then they reach up to brush a strand of moon white hair behind their ear. Zuko follows the gaze from their fingers, to the black tattoos that run up their dark arm, to their neck, up to their face and into her vibrant violet eyes.

 _The Minder._ The Minder is here in Ba Sing Se. And if she is here, then the Avatar must be here too.

Zuko's breath catches in his throat, and he is frozen in place. He can hear his uncle snickering behind him.

The Minder looks up, and finally notices him standing there. _Oh Spirits,_ is she about to out him for who he is? Will she call the Dai Li agents on him and his uncle, and turn him over to his sister? What will she _do?_

What she does is none of those things. She stares at him, a curious look on her face. She even tilts her head a little, her hair falling from where she had it tucked and spilling over her shoulder. Zuko wonders in the back of his mind how she could manage hair that long and wavy.

He walks up to her, clenching his fists. His face must be enraged, for her eyebrows raise a little.

" _You,_ " he hisses.

The Minder just blinks at him. "Of all places," she simply says, "I did not expect you to be here, Prince Z—"

"Li."

She gives the tiniest of frowns. Seeing emotion being acknowledged on her face takes him aback. "Li?"

Zuko scans his eyes across the other customers, watching to see if they noticed. None of them seem to be paying any mind to them, however, simply drinking their tea and talking to their companions. He lets out the tiniest sigh of relief.

"You must be here for a good reason," the Minder says, her voice going soft, "if you must use a name such as that." She brushes her hair back again. "I will not pry."

Zuko blinks. "You— _what?_ "

"I will not tell the Dai Li the Fire Nation prince is here," she whispers, and then gets a dangerous twinkle in her eyes. "On one condition."

"... What?"

"You do not attempt to capture me or my Avatar."

"WHAT—!?" he begins to shout, but remembers that he is in a public place, in which he works at, and it would be a shame if he were to get fired from a job his uncle enjoys so dearly. His face begins to redden from embarrassment, and he clears his throat, hissing out, "You must be crazy."

"Attempt to capture me or my Avatar and I _will_ tell the Dai Li." Her voice is serious and firm. It makes him lean back a little. Her gaze is even threatening to cut him in half.

He would rather die than be figured out. The disappointment in peoples' faces, the face of his sister when she sees him in chains, the—

 _His father._ Oh Spirits.

"Fine," he grits out, shame filling his entire body.

The Minder then smiles, a barely-there ghost of a grin, and for some odd reason it makes his face flush. She folds her hands in her lap and looks up at him expectantly, "In that case, I shall take a jasmine tea."

Zuko blinks at her in bewilderment, her request not processing.

She then shrugs lightly. "I have never tried tea before. I would like a jasmine, please, dear server."

Oh. _Oh._ Zuko flushes even deeper, and as he mutters _Okay_ and turns on his heel to go back to make it, he swears he can hear a tiny little chuckle from her end. He goes into the back room and resists the urge to dunk his head in the water. His uncle is trying not to be so obvious about his laughter. Zuko wants to set something on fire.

He makes the tea. Well, his uncle helps. And by _helps_ he means _does most of it._ Zuko hesitates before bringing the tea out, and fumbles setting down the cup in front of the Minder when he sees the way her face changes. She takes the cup in her hands, completely disregarding how hot it must be, and gently blows on it. Zuko finds himself drawn to her lips when they wrap around the rim of the cup, and she tips it back lightly to sip from it. Her eyes are closed as she swallows and licks her lips.

Then she opens them and hides a tiny smile from behind her cup. "This is very good."

"You've never had tea before?" he asks instead of the million thoughts racing through his mind.

The Minder just takes another sip. "I am new to this world," is her reply.

He doesn't ask her to elaborate. He just turns around and all but darts into the back room. This time, he really does dunk his head into the water.

(When Zuko finally takes the chance to look back towards the Minder, she is gone and what replaces her place at the table is a group of Earth Kingdom soldiers, laughing heartily and talking very loudly. A big comparison to the quiet and serious person who had been sitting there moments ago.)

* * *

Ka returns to their residence in the Upper Ring, and finds that only Aang and Toph are inside. Toph is asleep on some pillows, snoring very loudly and drooling all over the fabric of her pillow. Ka snorts at the sight.

"What'd you do today?" Aang asks curiously, following Ka when she begins to walk into the other room.

"I discovered something strange," she admits, and looks back towards the sleeping Toph. "You promise not to tell the others?"

"It must be _pretty_ weird if you're asking me that, " Aang laughs, and then nods. "Yeah, I promise."

Ka pauses before saying, "I saw Prince Zuko in the Lower Ring."

" _What?_ "

"He is working in a tea shop with his uncle."

"Wh—we have to tell someone! He can't just—"

Ka grabs his shoulders before he can dart off anywhere, and looks at his face with a determined look. "I swore to him I would not tell the authorities if he did not try to capture us." When Aang only stares at her blankly, she says, "And he agreed."

Aang blinks a few times, surprise painted across his face. " _Huh?_ No way."

"Yes," Ka says. "And he seems... different."

"Different," Aang repeats flatly.

"I feel as if he is changing," Ka admits, feeling more than a little embarrassed from the way her Avatar is looking at her. "I wish to learn more about him. If he keeps his promise I see no problem."

Aang is silent for a long moment. Then he tosses his head back and groans. "Ugh, _fine!_ Only because you're probably the most honest and trustworthy person I know. If _anyone_ can figure out Zuko, its you."

Ka smiles.

"But! If he tries to hurt you _at all,_ I'll—"

"Yes, yes," Ka laughs, patting his cheek lightly. "I appreciate that, Aang, but I am capable of handling him myself."

"I know," Aang says. "You're just my Minder. I have to protect you, like you protect me!"

Ka feels her heart get warm. "Exactly," she says softly, and then they must end their conversation there, for Sokka and Katara walk in at that moment.

* * *

Katara calls it a "girl's day out".

Ka calls it an odd trip to the spa. There are many rich, pampered women inside of it, and there are even more women attending to them, determined to make them look as rich and pampered as they.

Ka soaks in a sauna, bathes in mud, and has her hair braided around her head in a bun, strands purposefully strung down around her head to frame her face and accentuate the minuscule makeup on it. For the first time in her life, she feels... _pretty._ Attractive. Not just something for people to stare at and try to figure out.

After sending a few rude girls flying down a creek, Ka finds herself on the monorail again, traveling down to the Lower Ring to do what she promised Aang.

Figure out the Fire Nation prince.

She wonders just what could have happened to him to make him so set on capturing them. She wonders just _why_ he is in Ba Sing Se, under the name Li, working as a mere tea server. Why must he hide?

Ka can only hope she can figure out the answers. They have been plaguing her mind for days.

* * *

The Minder comes back.

This time, she sits near the counter, on one of the stools. When Zuko walks out and startles upon seeing her, she just tilts her head expectantly.

This time, she looks awfully different. No, not awful. _Amazingly_ different. As much as Zuko hates to admit, she is the enemy (is she?), but the enemy is _very_ beautiful. He had always been amazed by her unique looks and the way she carried herself—and today it was as if her looks and her very being was intensified tenfold. He had no idea what she had done to herself, but if she was nice to look at before, nothing compared to right now. Her lips were shiny and painted with something, accentuating her dark skin and making her face stand out even more. Her hair was tied up in some sort of braid-bun, strands hanging down around her.

His staring must of been obvious. The Minder turns her head away a little bit, almost looking shy. It's horribly cute. Zuko wants to punch himself. He shouldn't be having thoughts like this about the person he is supposed to bring to his father's hands—and the Minder, nonetheless, someone who is just a lapdog for the Avatar.

He can't bear to think that way now.

"There is a very luxurious spa in the Upper Ring," the Minder says, gesturing vaguely to her face. "They did some very odd stuff."

 _Odd,_ she calls it. The next thing he processes is _the Upper Ring._ Is that where she and the Avatar are staying? Figures.

"What—" he starts, and then his voice dies on him. Uncle nudges his side in amusement. He scowls. "What... would you like?"

The Minder pauses, tapping her chin. Then she turns to Uncle and asks, "What would you recommend?"

Uncle beams, absolutely delighted to have a chance to speak with her. "Well, my favorite is jasmine, but you already had that the other day, didn't you?"

She nods in reply. "Yes. I enjoyed it much so."

"I heard you've never had tea before!" Uncle exclaims, and _oh Spirits_ , why did he have to admit _that?_ The Minder glances at Zuko for a moment, and then back towards Uncle as he says, "That is certainly a surprise! Did they not have tea where you are from?"

"We did not have food _or_ drink," the Minder says matter-of-factly, her expression not even changing, and Zuko furrows his eyebrows in confusion at her words. She sees their confusion and continues with, "We did not need it." Her explanation does not help one bit.

For him, at least. His uncle merely smiles knowingly.

"Well, that is a shame!" he says, and then his smile has a twinge of mischief that Zuko recognizes and does not like. "You should stay after closing—I can make you a meal that would make up for what you've been missing! Then you can tell me all about the land you hail from!"

An awful idea. Zuko should've saw this coming.

The Minder blinks. She looks almost surprised. "I... er, would I not impose? Surely you would not want me here past closing?"

Uncle just smiles and waves her off. "I would be delighted! I would love to hear stories about your adventures, and this will be my thanks for how you saved my life."

The Minder then bites her lip, looking off to the side, almost as if to hide a smile. Then she eyes her uncle up and down, her gaze lingering on his stomach, and says, "Well, I suppose so. If I am not causing too much trouble."

Always about the trouble. As Uncle quickly gives her a yes and goes off to prepare whatever he's going to make, Zuko scowls deeply and stomps into the back room. The Minder watches him leave with a confused look, and a different server eagerly goes up to take her order.

(He can't be doing this. He can't— _get to know_ the enemy. He is supposed to capture the Avatar and his Minder and take them to his father so he can be welcomed home again.)

He has no choice.

* * *

The Minder stays past closing. That is when Zuko figures his plan.

(He learns more about her, about her past and who she is, and just when she trusts him enough and he gets her alone, _that_ is when he takes her prisoner. No chance of telling the Dai Li. And her Avatar would _surely_ be coming after her. It's perfect.)

It's perfect.

* * *

Uncle makes a roasted duck with a side of fish and pork. The table at their new home is very small, and can barely accommodate him and his uncle, not to mention their guest.

The Minder sits between the two of them, her hands folded politely in her lap, her eyes lingering on the food set before her. Zuko admits it smells very nice—even if his uncle isn't the best cook—but he has had this plenty of times before. The thought of the Minder coming from a land of people who do not eat or drink is odd, it's _strange._ Having one of the people he's spent _years_ chasing sitting at his table, sharing a meal with him, is beyond strange. It's _crazy._ His uncle's crazy.

They get their plates (Uncle makes up the Minder's for her), and dig in. Zuko is starving, after having working and smelling the godforsaken tea all day. Uncle waits until the Minder takes a bite before beginning to eat his own. The Minder's eyes light up when she swallows—her reactions are weird. How could she have never eaten before?

"Thank you for saving my life," Uncle suddenly speaks up, his voice genuine. He pats his chest, where the wound from Azula is most prominent. "I may not be here without your help."

It's true. Zuko grips his bowl tighter. He doesn't like thinking about what could've happened if the Minder and her friends had listened to his demands instead of ignoring him and helping an injured man they did not know.

The Minder nods. "You are very welcome. I could not just leave when there was a chance I could help." She looks down into her bowl. "I would not have been able to do it myself. My friend did help."

Uncle nods, smiling. "Please extend my thank you to your friend, then." When the Minder nods, he purses his lips thoughtfully and takes a sip from his cup (tea, again, what else). "Forgive me, but I'm not quite sure I know your name."

Oh. Of course she'd have a name. In Zuko's head, she has always been _the Minder._

"Ka," she says. Huh.

"You're the waterbending Minder, then? Since the Avatar is an airbender?"

"Yes."

"You don't look like you're from either of the Water Tribes."

The Minder— _Ka_ gives him a look Zuko cannot decipher. "That is because I do not hail from one of the Water Tribes." She takes another bite of fish. "I am from the Spirit World."

Zuko promptly chokes on his food. He has to pound on his chest to cough and wheeze and breathe right once more. Uncle and their guest are staring at him strangely, though Uncle looks more amused than anything else.

"I should've known," Uncle says to Ka, then. "Your appearance is too otherworldly for anywhere else."

Ka nods, and then turns to look over at Zuko. "Is it that surprising?" she asks.

Zuko doesn't know what to say. He glances at his uncle and then back at her. "You're a spirit?" is all he can spit out. It _would_ make sense, after all, with the way the Minder looks and speaks and behaves. But still—a _spirit?_ In the physical world? Among humans? And it's the _Minder?_

(If his father, or _anyone_ in the Fire Nation for that matter, discovered this not-so-secret, they would have a field day. The first captured, _live_ spirit.)

(Suddenly, the Minder becomes a lot more worthy.)

The Minder does not respond to him, and instead turns towards Uncle when he begins to speak to her once more, even more eagerly than ever before. Leave it to his Uncle to know everything before it's even revealed.

"My tattoos?" Ka repeats to Uncle's apparent question (Zuko had been too occupied with his thoughts to pay attention and listen). She sets down her bowl and gently traces her fingers against the mysterious, black tattoos that trail up her body and neck. The action is strangely mesmerizing. "They appeared as soon as I left the Spirit World. I believe they represent my connection to it."

"And when did you come to the physical world?" Uncle continues, leaning so far across the table Zuko thinks it may tip over or fly off.

The Minder side-eyes Zuko for a moment. "As soon as my Avatar awoke from his hundred-year slumber."

"Then you haven't been here long, have you?"

The Minder— _Ka, she has a name, Zuko, c'mon_ —shakes her head and lifts her cup to take another sip of her tea. "I have learned so many things since coming. I do not regret it."

Zuko blurts out the question before he can stop himself, "How is the Minder reincarnated into a spirit?" He's too curious to say nothing, because how could she live for a hundred years inside the Spirit World unless she had been born in the physical world, to take the spirit of the previous Minder?

Ka's grip on her cup suddenly tightens, and she slowly turns her head to give Zuko a terrifyingly blank expression, one similar to the expression she always wore when he first looked upon her.

"Whatever I say will be turned over to the Fire Lord, no?" she murmurs, tone hard and thick with animosity, contrasting greatly with her flat look. "Let me not speak a word of it, then."

Uncle gives him a look. "I respect your wishes, Ka."

The Minder nods once, and eventually finishes her food.

* * *

The Fire Nation prince's uncle orders him to walk Ka out, despite her protests that she is fine, she will be able to get back the same way she came. General Iroh insists it is only polite.

She is walked out, nonetheless.

"Your uncle seems very knowledgeable about the spirits, Prince Zuko," she says after a few long moments of silence, her words very obviously startling him by the way he jumps and looks at her with wide and confused eyes.

"I guess," he mutters a moment later. "He's always going on about how sacred the spirits are, or whatever."

 _You should respect the spirits,_ she wants to say, but just hums in reply and looks around at the sight before her. The stars in the sky are very bright and beautiful; she never tires of looking at them. When she sees the moon, full and glowing, she resists the rather silly urge to wave. She can only hope Princess Yue is faring well.

There are eyes boring into her back. Ka turns to see the prince staring at her, an unreadable expression on his face.

"Are you perhaps thinking of capturing me?" she asks, only half-teasing.

The prince blinks a few times, seemingly caught off-guard. He starts to say something but fumbles over his words, and coughs into his fist before saying, "Um. No." He sounds like he wishes to say more, but chooses not to.

Ka turns back to the stars, and points up at them. "There are no stars in the Spirit World," she says. "At least, not where I grew up. Just trees and fog." She looks back towards Prince Zuko and raises your eyebrows. "Thank you for having dinner with me. Extend my thanks to your uncle, as well."

The prince blinks, again. "Right. Uh. Yeah."

"You are not very articulate today," Ka teases. She turns around fully and flips her hair over her shoulder, before gesturing towards herself. "Let me ask you this, Prince Zuko: what am I now?"

"Huh?"

"Am I _just_ the Minder?" she asks. "Just a _prize?_ You still plan to capture me, no?"

The prince hesitates, looking somewhat flustered. "I... have to restore my honor."

Ka purses her lips thoughtfully. "Then perhaps you will enlighten me with the reason why sometime," she then says, and leans forward a little, lowering her voice to a soft whisper. "I'm sure it will be an interesting tale."

The prince frowns. It is a familiar expression. "I don't think you'd be interested in that."

"Oh, I am," Ka assures, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I am interested in _you._ If it is not too much trouble, I would like to be friends."

Prince Zuko's eyes go wide in shock, his face turning pink. He almost looks as if he is going to double over. " _What?_ " he sputters, probably loud enough to wake his sleeping neighbors.

Ka holds out her hand expectantly. "I do not expect you to accept, of course. But I would like you to be my friend, if you would have me."

Moments of silence pass. The prince's gaze on her hand becomes more and more intense by the moment. The same with his face—it grows redder and redder. Ka is about to put her hand down and simply walk away, but then Prince Zuko suddenly sighs and turns his head away, very nearly pouting, and grabs Ka's hand.

He shakes it once. His hand is very warm, Ka notices, and he has a firm grip.

"You're so weird," the prince remarks when their hands drop.

Ka moves to walk away, and pauses with her back turned to him. "I wonder if that is so much of a bad thing," she comments, and leaves the prince standing by the tea shop in the night.

* * *

Zuko stares down at his hand where the Minder had touched him as he walks back into the tea shop. Uncle jumps away from the window, making it very clear that he had been spying on them.

"So, how did it go?" he asks, for the sake of it.

Zuko frowns. "She asked to be my friend."

Uncle smiles. "I think it'll be good for you! You need a friend around your age."

He scowls. He doesn't need friends. He needs his honor back. "She's the _Minder._ "

"And?" Uncle asks, turning and smoothing down his apron. "We can start a new life here, Zuko. You don't need to dwell on the past any longer—"

"What do _you_ know?" he shouts, anger filling his chest in a way he hasn't felt in a long time. " _Nothing!_ I don't _want_ to start a new life here! I just want my old life back!" He turns around and crosses his arms, taking a few deep breaths to keep himself from accidentally catching the entire place on fire.

His uncle is quiet for a few moments. Then: "Ka is quite a catch, isn't she?"

Without realizing what Uncle is saying, Zuko automatically responds with _Yeah._ It takes him another few moments to register exactly what he just replied to, and his face _burns_ pink. Whirling around, his uncle is trying his hardest to muffle his laughter.

"Perhaps something _more_ than friends?"

" _ABSOLUTELY NOT!_ "

* * *

Being friends with the Minder is a lot simpler than Zuko first imagined. She comes, talks for a bit, drinks some tea, shares some stories, then leaves to wherever her Avatar and the rest of her friends reside.

Sometimes she comes daily, and then disappears for a week. She blames it on the fact that she is currently learning earthbending, and her teacher is very boisterous, as she puts it.

(But that cannot be the _only_ reason. Zuko figures she's hiding something, but doesn't try to get it out of her. It wouldn't work anyway—she's strangely perceptive and naive at the same time.)

Zuko learns she could not bend until she came out of the Spirit World, and that the Avatar's gang are the first friends her age ("Besides you, now," Ka had said, gently tapping her cup with her fingers. "Even if you still do not see me as anything close to a friend." Zuko had just silently refilled her tea).

Uncle delights in talking to the Minder about her experiences in the Spirit World. She refuses to disclose them all, of course, Zuko wouldn't have expected her to—but the stories she _does_ tell are amazing and interesting in their own right. They almost seem fake, with how surreal and magical they are, and the adventures they contain.

He also blames her odd appearance on her identity as a spirit. Same with her unfair beauty. He remembers his uncle telling him long ago: _spirits are either incredibly beautiful or terrifyingly ugly, and if one is incredibly ugly or terrifyingly beautiful, then you have a problem._

Zuko has a problem. Ka is terrifyingly beautiful. He can't stop staring, can't stop analyzing and paying attention to every little move and sound she makes. She used to not say a word, and her expression used to be blank—it's a change, so that _must_ be why he's focusing on it.

(Right?)

He figures, if his plan is going to work, he has to offer her some things about himself in return. So he mumbles out stories of his days in the palace, and sometimes Uncle breaks in with a funny anecdote of his own. Rare for Ka to smile at them, and even _rarer_ for her to laugh. It has only happened once, and Zuko still thinks about it everyday (especially on the days she isn't here).

It's normal to think of friends all the time, right? He thought about capturing the Avatar and his Minder for three years, so it's not so odd.

(Except when she's around, the Avatar very rarely crosses his mind.)

Uncle smiles at him strangely every time Ka leaves after a long conversation. He doesn't know what it means, and he's not sure he wants to.

* * *

"You've been going to Zuko's more often," Aang comments offhandedly one night, when Ka slides the door closed behind her.

"I think we have become good friends," Ka replies, tying her hair up into a ponytail and walking over to him.

Aang looks up at her from his place on the floor, lazily resting against the staircase. "Really?" he deadpans. "We're connected, you know, I can feel some things."

Ka tilts her head. "Like what?"

"Do you really not know?"

"... No?"

"You're the most oblivious but smart person I've ever met," Aang sighs.

Ka furrows her eyebrows. "I could say the same about you."

Aang laughs and airbends himself to his feet, blowing some strands of Ka's hair out of her ponytail. She frowns and blows them away from her eyes. Aang flicks her forehead and puts his hands on his hips.

"You always come back a lot happier than usual," he says matter-of-factly. "I think _you_ have a _crush._ "

Ka stares at him oddly for a moment. _A crush?_ She had never considered that possibly. "As in, romantic feelings?" she clarifies, and when Aang nods, tilts her head in thought. "Perhaps. I do not have much experience with romance." Ka thinks of how her Avatar can often be caught staring at Katara, talking about her, or just generally trying to be as close to her as possible. "My _crush_ may not be to the same extent as _you_ with Katara, however."

Aang blushes. "Shh! Someone might hear you!"

Ka rolls her eyes in amusement. Aang rubs at his face in embarrassment and takes a deep breath, the redness slowly fading as his expression turns serious again.

"Okay, but, a _crush?_ On _Zuko?_ " he says in disbelief. "I don't know about this, Ka..."

"I never confirmed it was a crush," Ka says, putting her hands on her hips. "And even so, must it matter? We have become friends... or so I think."

"You _think?_ "

"He seems apprehensive about being friends with someone he is supposed to capture," Ka replies, shrugging lightly. "I expected this. But I have a plan."

Aang stares, his expression unchanging. "... That is?"

"Prince Zuko is a firebender," Ka says, making her voice a bit softer when she starts to hear the voices of the Water Tribe siblings from outside. "He could be our mentor."

" _What!?_ "

"Where else are we going to find a firebending teacher, Aang?" Ka asks, her tone getting harder. She furrows her eyebrows. "We _must_ plan ahead!"

The front door creaks open. "What are _you_ two arguing about?" Sokka asks suddenly, yawning and stretching his arms above his head.

"Aang and Ka argue?" Toph jokes, flopping onto one of the pillows and propping her feet in the air.

Ka shoots Aang a look. "Nothing," she replies shortly, folding her arms across her chest.

Sokka and Katara look at each other once and then back towards them. The subject is quickly changed as Sokka starts to tell a story about how he got kicked out of some poetry club _—stupid poetry, those girls aren't even that good_ —as Aang immediately breaks in with a story about how he made an entire zoo outside the walls for a poor zookeeper.

("How about you? Do you have any stories, Ka?"

"... No. I have just been exploring.")

She feels immense guilt for lying to her friends.

* * *

"I dunno if Zuko would agree to being our... _y'know._ Firebending teacher."

"It is worth a shot."

"Well, yeah, but..."

"There may be no one else to turn to, Aang."

"... Yeah. I guess you're right. I'm still wary, though."

"And for good reason."

"Be safe, Ka!"

"See you tonight, Aang."

* * *

Ka enters the tea shop, only to discover a missing Zuko. She walks to the front with her questions ready, when General Iroh turns around to see her. He gives her an almost guilty look.

"Z—erm, _Li_ is getting ready for his date."

Ka blinks. "'Date'?" she repeats.

"A girl asked him out this morning," Zuko's uncle admits. "I kind of roped him into it."

"Well," Ka says, "I do hope she is a kind girl."

"She certainly seems so!" General Iroh says, and looks all around the shop before leaning forward and lowering his voice down to a whisper. "Though, I think my nephew would fare _much_ better with someone else."

Ka furrows her eyebrows. "Who?"

General Iroh gives her a deadpanned look, raising his eyebrows. They have a bit of stare-down for a while, and it is not until he sighs that she realizes just who he is speaking of.

Her.

" _Me?_ " she asks, just to clarify, gesturing to herself with wide, shocked eyes.

General Iroh gives a loud, boisterous laugh. "Yes, you!" he exclaims. "My nephew finds you very captivating. Am I wrong in assuming you share feelings for him, as well?"

Ka leans on the counter and shrugs lightly, looking down towards her feet. "'Captivating'..." she scoffs under her breath, shaking her head in disbelief, and then looks up. "I suppose. I have never felt something like this before," she says, and then remembers the girl back at the fortunetelling village. "Er, not to this extent."

Iroh strokes at his beard thoughtfully. "You are a very honest person, Ka."

"Do I have a reason to lie?"

He just laughs. "Of course not." He gestures for her to sit and picks out one of his fanciest cups. "Here, sit. I'll make you some fresh tea."

* * *

When the sun begins to fall, Prince Zuko exits the back room with his hair all slicked down and clothes tucked in. Ka quickly turns around and slaps a hand over her mouth, biting her lip to keep from bursting into embarrassing giggles.

"Wh—Uncle! What's the Minder doing here?" Prince Zuko hisses, his face going red. He lifts his hand but his uncle smacks his hand with a warning glare.

Ka takes a deep breath and turns around, having to look down to snort when the prince's angry yet sheepish expression looks almost comical. "I do wish you would call me by my name," she says, putting her hands on her hips. "And it has been a few weeks now—surely you _must_ know I stay after-hours for tea."

"Well, but—"

"I wanted to wish you good luck on your date, " Ka says, pushing her hair out of her eyes and raising her eyebrows at him.

Prince Zuko just stares, his mouth hanging open. "Uh—"

"Well, don't want to keep the lady waiting!" Prince Zuko's uncle quickly intervenes, pushing him out the door despite his protests.

Looking outside, Ka and General Iroh watch as a young girl laughs and ruffles at his hair, before taking his arm and leading him away from the tea shop.

"She is very beautiful," Ka observes, feeling a little awed. She seems like a nice young woman, who genuinely likes him.

( _She likes Li. She does not know Prince Zuko,_ a strange part of Ka's mind interrupts.)

"Would you like to stay and wait for him to return?" General Iroh asks.

Ka looks back out the window and then towards the man who is smiling gently at her. She thinks of the kindness he has always shown her, despite being from the Fire Nation, and being the Fire Lord's _brother,_ at that.

And so, she gives him a smile in return. "Only if you entertain me with a few stories in the meantime."

She loves General Iroh's laugh. It is happy and loud and fills up the empty space in the room with mirth.

"It would be my pleasure!"

* * *

Jin is a nice girl. She deserves someone much better.

Zuko doesn't think he has made a very good impression on her. He calls her appetite large, yells at a waiter in front of her, and embarrasses himself by trying to prove his juggling lie.

Just when he thinks it's going well, Jin leans in to kiss him. He tries to stall it, prevent it from happening— _why is he preventing it?—_ but then Jin smiles at him and says _I have something for you. Now it's your turn to close your eyes._

So he does.

There's a pressure on his lips, so slight but so very there. Zuko leans in to return it, to get that feeling again, but instead of the brown-haired girl who came up to him this morning and oh so sweetly asked him out, he thinks of someone with moon white hair and the most vividly-colored violet eyes he's ever seen.

And he pulls back, startled, staring at Jin with confused eyes before turning his back and clenching his fists. This is bad. _Really_ bad.

"What's wrong?"

"It's complicated." It's the truth. "I have to go."

* * *

Ka looks up when the door silently opens, watching the sullen form of Prince Zuko step inside.

General Iroh closes the windows quickly, trying not to make it obvious that he was watching for him. He snips at one of his plants. "How was your night, Prince Zuko?"

Instead of answering, Prince Zuko stomps into the other room and slams the doors shut with a loud noise. Ka startles at the noise, and shares a confused look with General Iroh for a moment.

A second later, the doors creak open and the prince's face is revealed through the crack between the two doors.

"It was nice."

And he slides them shut, not saying another word.

The general smiles and returns to his work, but Ka stands from her place on the table to go over to the door he had just shut and knocks twice.

Silence. She tries knocking again.

"Go _away,_ Uncle," comes the prince's rather annoyed voice. "I don't wanna talk."

"I am not your uncle," Ka says, and there's only silence. A few moments pass, and then Prince Zuko opens the door to look down at her warily. She suddenly feels somewhat taken aback at his expression. His eyes refuse to make direct contact with hers, and he seems anxious about something. "Are you alright? I knocked because I am leaving, and wished to hear how your night went."

"Fine," Prince Zuko says quickly. "I'm fine."

He moves to close the door again, but Ka jams her foot in the way and frowns. She pushes it open and crosses her arms.

"Would you look me in the eye, please?" she asks. "Can you not even tell a friend goodbye?"

Suddenly, the prince's entire demeanor changes. He frowns, his eyes going ablaze with anger, and he slams the doors open all the way with a force Ka has not seen in a very long time.

"We are _not_ friends," he says coldly, and then his voice raises when he says, "You are my _prize!_ Why would I _ever_ be friends with a _freak_ like you when you're my _ticket home!?_ " And with that, he slams the door shut, and Ka can hear angry mutters from inside.

She stands there in silence, utterly shocked. Her only thought is how she is going to tell Aang what happened, and that he was right. She suddenly feels hands on her shoulders, leading her away from where the prince had just blatantly insulted her, and towards the door that leads outside.

The prince's uncle gives her a guilty, sheepish look. "I'm—sorry. I don't know what's gotten into him."

Ka puts on a blank expression, causing General Iroh to lean back in shock and remove his hands. She sighs lightly and brushes her hair from her face, giving one last glance at the door Prince Zuko had just shut on her face.

"Do not apologize for him," she says, slipping her voice back into how she used to speak, bland and emotionless. It is somewhat more difficult to do so now. Her throat burns and she swallows. "I understand. I must have been a fool," she says, now a little louder, directing her voice towards the prince who sits behind the doors, "to think we could have ever been anything but enemies."

And with that, she turns on her heel and leaves.

* * *

When she returns back to their place of stay, she does not say a word to anyone, and stalks off to her room. Everyone sees it as normal—her silence, her disregard.

Aang is the only one who can sense (quite literally) that something is wrong, and gives her a sympathetic look before she closes her bedroom door and isolates herself for the rest of the night.

* * *

"Prince Zuko," Uncle scolds harshly when he finally comes out of the room, angry and tired and lethargic. "Do you realize what you've just done?"

What he's done? What did he—

 _You are my prize!_

Oh. He snapped.

"I didn't mean it," he says, his voice strangely soft.

"Ka has _always_ shown you kindness, and _this_ is how you repay her?" He's right. He's right. Zuko feels guilt claw at his chest. It's like his heart is being ripped out. Uncle is furious, and he has every right to, but the hard glare he is being given makes a shudder run down his spine—facing the wrath of Uncle has never been something to look forward to. "I am ashamed of you, Prince Zuko."

Zuko clenches his trembling fists. He _knows_ why. He doesn't want to feel these feelings _—feel like this—_ for the Minder. For Ka. He shouldn't. It can _never_ happen. And yet the feelings are there anyway.

(So if he pushes her away, makes her hate him, then surely he will soon hate her back?)

(It's a lie. He only hates _himself_ more.)

"I don't want to feel like this," he admits quietly, his face getting hot. "It's... stupid." _Wrong._

"Like what?" Uncle asks, but Zuko says nothing. He only gets more and more red. Uncle narrows his eyes, and then realization slaps him across the face. "Oh," he says, and Zuko turns around like his gaze burns. "Is that so much of a bad thing?"

"Of _course_ it is!" Zuko exclaims, whirling around. He clenches his jaw and runs a hand through his hair. "She's the _Minder!_ I'm—supposed to _capture_ her and the Avatar—"

"That is a destiny _someone else_ threw onto you," Uncle says, his voice much calmer. He brushes his robe free of dust. "We are in a new city, living new lives. You're free to make your own choices, and do what you want." He gives his nephew a smile. "And if Ka is what you want, then there's nothing stopping you."

Zuko stops, looks down on the ground, and wrinkles his nose before turning on his heel and walking back into the other room.

And he doesn't come out for the rest of the night.

* * *

Ka does not come the next day.

Nor the day after that.

Those days feel horribly empty, and so does Zuko. Unbelievable guilt claws at his chest when someone walks through the door and they don't immediately walk up to the front with glowing violet eyes, they don't flip their white hair over their shoulder, they don't make some sort of strange comment or talk in a oddly-formal way.

No Minder. Zuko should have never said those things to her. He realizes this now. He would give anything to apologize.

(It's weird. She's _the Minder._ This is _wrong—_ )

"Li!"

At his uncle's voice, Zuko turns to see him holding out some sort of colorful flyer. Zuko squints his eyes to read the words and once he registers the word _festival,_ he immediately opens his mouth to protest.

Uncle, however, is too quick:

"You've been cooped up inside for too long!" he claims, giving him another one of those _looks,_ so intense that Zuko can't even dispute it with the fact that it's really only been _two days._ "There's a festival around town tonight. Why don't you check it out for an hour or two?"

Zuko sighs. "Uncle—"

"No buts!" he quickly says, putting a hand in his face. " _You,_ my dear nephew, need to get out more."

He doesn't, really, at least he doesn't think he needs to—but he wouldn't dare go against his uncle, not now.

So he sighs, reluctantly agrees, and takes the flyer to read over it more.

* * *

Ka has never had the chance to truly go to a festival. All the times she has been to one, she and her friends had been chased out before they could even begin to enjoy it.

But now, there is nobody nor nothing to stop her.

The Lower Ring's festivals are big and beautiful—Ka admires the energy, the happiness, the excitement that fills the air around her and makes her heart swell with joy. She could almost smile.

Almost.

She first becomes drawn to the food, then to the ribbons, and buys one of each. She eats the food, of course, and ties the ribbon into her hair. The bright green and white contrast rather oddly, but she does not mind.

She does not even mind the stares the people around her give—amazed, confused, some even annoyed. She wonders if they know who she is.

Oh, well. It does not matter.

She completely forgets about the stares when she sees the large square of music, where people have gathered to dance and sing. Ka has never danced before.

She makes a beeline for it.

* * *

The festival is colorful and bright and bursting with music and happiness. Zuko doesn't feel like he belongs here.

Children run past his feet, giggling and shouting, carrying sparklers and ribbons and chasing the other with it. There are multiple shops selling what Zuko can obviously tell is delicious festival food (he can smell it—it smells incredible), along with the ribbons and flaming sparklers the children are carrying. Some festival-goers buy their partners jewelry or other sorts of gifts.

In the middle of the square is a band, playing loud, hearty music that people are dancing and swinging to. In the middle of the square is a flash of moon white hair, and an arm that wraps around the owner of it. Zuko's eyes widen— _could it be?—_ and he shoves past the people gathered around the center to get to the front. There are couples dancing all across the square, some even alone, but one stands out among the rest.

Sure enough, there is the Minder—Ka—wriggling her way out of the grasp of each man that tries to dance with her. One of them has the audacity to take her by the hand and spin her into his arms, but she only flips out of his grip and lands gracefully on the ground. The audience thinks it's part of the show, and they cheer and clap. Zuko just watches, wondering if he should call out, say something, take her by the arm and drag her away from the people who watch her as if she's some sort of zoo animal.

Instead, he stands there, and watches the most beautiful person he's ever seen twirl around the laughing forms of young children. They all dance their ribbons around her body and wave their sparklers. It's an awfully magical scene. Combined with the way that the sky is turning to night and the lanterns across the streets illuminate the area, Ka looks as if she were a goddess.

 _Spirits,_ Zuko thinks, and resists the urge to smother his face with his hands.

When he looks up at her again, he sees that she's been swept up into another man's arms, but this time he is a lot larger than her. He spins her around and dips her low, so slowly in time with the music, that Zuko is so drawn to the way that her hair hangs down and then flips back up when the man brings her back up. He seems satisfied, for he spins her away into the square, and she stumbles right into the audience.

Right onto Zuko.

She looks up at him with surprise, and then her expression quickly falls. She pushes herself off of him, and brushes herself off. "My apologies," she says softly, and turns to go back to the square, but last minute Zuko grabs her by the wrist and pulls her back. She stares at him with an odd, confused expression.

Zuko blushes. _Damn it._ "I—" he starts, but fumbles over his next words. "I'm sorry."

 _Really?_ Is that really _all_ he can say? Before Zuko can say more, Ka suddenly gets a dangerous twinkle in her eye and she takes both of Zuko's hands in hers before pulling them both back to the middle of the square. He nearly trips when she yanks him hard enough, and she looks as if she's trying not to laugh when he gives her a startled, wide-eyed look.

"What—"

"I have never danced before," Ka says quickly and quietly. "So dance with me."

They're kind of standing in the middle of everyone, so Zuko can't really say no. Ka gives the ghost of a smile and dances around him. The audience is cheering them on, and Zuko has no other choice but to spin her in his arms and twirl her around. He wraps an arm around her waist when she slips and nearly trips, pulling her up to him. His hands shake as he brings up back up straight, and she slips her hand into his and twirls them both around the square, moving their feet to the fast-paced music. Zuko remembers dancing lessons long ago, from his days in the palace. Traditional dancing is much more slow and professional—there is no close-range touching; you kiss one's hand, dance for a bit, and then move onto the next.

 _This?_ This is close, fast, and more fun than Zuko's had in a long time.

He finds himself smiling, despite it all.

* * *

They eventually stop dancing. Zuko is somewhat sad to see the time pass.

He and Ka walk over to a nearby wall, away from the crowd of dancers that is slowly getting larger and larger. Ka looks over at the music for a moment, seemingly mesmerized. When she turns her head back to look at Zuko, before she can give him that horribly blank look, Zuko opens his mouth—

"I'm sorry."

Ka raises her eyebrows. "You have said that, yes."

Zuko looks down at the ground, but then feels like a coward, and looks up once more. Her gaze is so intense that he has to break away from it to keep his face from burning red. Bowing his head, he rubs the back of his neck.

"I didn't mean what I said. Any of it."

Ka eyes him up and down and tilts her head to the side. Zuko feels as if he's facing judgement from, well, the spirits. In a way, he supposes he _is_ (though he doubts whether Ka had any sort of authority in the Spirit World or not).

All of a sudden, Ka is smiling, and Zuko isn't sure if she realizes it or not. Seems his judgement has been decided, for Ka takes his hands and leans forward to look into his eyes.

"If you are truly my friend," she whispers, "then you will spend the rest of this festival with me, no?"

There is no way he could ever deny her.

"Uh... sure?"

"Wonderful," Ka says, and drags him away.

* * *

Excitement doesn't show on Ka's face, or in her eyes—but in the way she moves. Her hands shake and tremble when she pulls the ribbon from her hair and holds it in front of Zuko's face. Her body seems uncontrollable and fidgety when she hops from stall to stall.

In the end, she grabs Zuko's hand when she notices him starting to fall behind. No matter what, she does not let go. So neither does he.

(He just hopes she can't tell how flushed his face must be, or how sweaty his hands are.)

She finally gets the chance to enjoy a festival. Near the end of it, when the music has died down and the guests have succumbed to watching the light and fireworks show, Zuko sneaks Ka up to the top of a roof, for the best possible view.

No sight in the world is comparable to Ka's amazed face when the first firework bursts into brilliant colors.

"There were fireworks at the last festival," she says after a few long minutes of silence, "but... we did not get the chance to enjoy them."

Zuko crosses his legs and fidgets with his hands. "You really haven't seen these things before, have you?"

It's a vague question. Ka just looks down towards the streets of people, some cheering and some murmuring.

"No," she finally answers. "I... grew up in a very sheltered environment." She looks over at Zuko with a somewhat tired look in her eyes. "I only learned very traditional things—like bending, and cultures. I am often very confused on every adventure we take."

Zuko isn't sure what to say to that. Instead, he asks, "Can I ask you a question?"

Ka raises an eyebrow, and turns her body to face him. Behind her, the fireworks continue to crackle and pop. Zuko isn't sure if she could look bad in any lighting.

"Only if I can ask you one in return," is her reply.

Zuko nods, and then scratches his neck awkwardly. "Um... how..." He has no idea how to ask this, but it's been biting at him for ages, ever since he found out the Minder is an actual spirit. "How are you... here?"

" _Here?_ " Ka repeats incredulously.

"I mean—how are spirits... made? Did you..." He doesn't finish his sentence. He's sure Ka can connect the dots.

"I did not _die,_ if that's what you are asking," Ka replies, looking a little amused. "I was created."

Zuko blinks, furrowing his eyebrows. " _Huh?_ "

Ka looks down at the back of her hands, curling her fingers a few times. "Some powerful spirits can create, well... I suppose they would be classified as _children._ " She looks up at him and brushes her hair back with a sigh. "I have a father. He is an ancient spirit, and he is the one who created me. Like his mother created him."

Now he's way too curious. "Who's your father?" With all of his uncle's stories, maybe he'd know him?

Ka freezes up. Her entire face falls. _Oh._ Maybe that was the wrong thing to ask. Her hands clench in the fabric of her tunic, and she doesn't meet Zuko's eyes.

There's a long moment of silence between them, the only noise being the roar of the fireworks. Then, eventually, comes the quiet _Koh the Face-Stealer._

Oh. _Oh._ Flashbacks of scary stories come to mind. _Koh the Face-Stealer_ was a spirit mothers and fathers told about to their children to keep them behaved. It was a just a tale, a myth.

Not anymore.

"Now do you understand why my face seems so... bland?" Ka turns to look at him, donning her usual expressionless look—the one that tormented Zuko for so long in the cabin of his ship.

Wait. "You mean... he'd—?"

"Of course he would," Ka interrupts, and her frustrated face is somewhat terrifying. "It did not matter if I was his child or not."

Silence.

"I know what it's like to have a father like that," Zuko blurts all of a sudden.

Ka looks up with a confused look, and tilts her head. "What do you mean?"

He shouldn't be telling her this. She could go back and tell all her friends and they'd all laugh at him. But she would never, he knows this.

Still, he can't find the words in him—they're suddenly trapped in his throat. Zuko swallows thickly and takes her wrist before slowly pressing her hand against his scar. She stares into his eyes for a few moments, her fingers feeling like ice against the heat of his skin.

Then her eyes get wide with horror.

"No," she whispers.

Zuko looks off to the side. "... I... spoke out at a war meeting. And needed to be punished."

Ka's expression switches from one of horror to one of pure anger. Her eyes flash orange for a split second. "Your own father... did _this_ to you?"

He doesn't say anything. He can't.

Ka's anger is gone, and her fiery eyes are replaced with sadness. She leans forward, putting her other hand on his other cheek, and kisses the scarred tissue right underneath his eye. The way she is so unafraid to touch the worst part of him makes something snap.

Suddenly, he isn't afraid, and he grabs Ka's wrists before pulling her in and kissing her right then and there.

It lasts only for a few seconds. Then he realizes what he's done and pushes her away like her touch burns. It does, but it only makes him want to kiss her more. She sits there, eyes wide and expression more colorful than ever. Her hands hover in the air for a moment before they reach up to push back her bangs and rest on her shoulders.

"Are you going to apologize for _that,_ too?" she asks rather softly.

Zuko stammers. "Uh. Well—"

Ka breaks into laughter. Zuko scoots closer to her and kisses her again. This time, she grabs onto his arms and presses back. Behind them, the fireworks come to a close and they are shrouded in darkness.

After a few moments, they pull away, but they're still close enough to where their noses are brushing.

"And that?" She sounds a little breathless.

"No," he says, and it's the easiest thing in the world.

"I assume you are not getting a second date with that other girl," Ka half-jokes. She pushes her hair back and leans into his arm.

Zuko looks off to the side and winces. "It... didn't go that well."

"I guessed as much," she says, and looks at him with a curious face. "Does this count as a date?"

The question is too innocent for someone like her. It flusters Zuko even more than he already is. Partially covering his face, he looks away and murmurs a quiet _If you want it to._ Ka doesn't say anything but she does lean against him more, looking up to watch the rest of the fireworks.

It's a good night.

* * *

Prince Zuko kisses her a few more times before she walks him back to his tiny apartment.

"I should warn you I may be quite busy the next few days, Prince Zuko," Ka informs when she pulls away from him, pressing her hands on his chest to escape his embrace.

The prince just frowns. It's a very adorable display. "You can just call me Zuko..." he murmurs first, and then louder, "What are you going to be doing? Will you still come over?"

Ka takes his hand in hers and squeezes it. "Important Minder duties," she replies, and then hums. "Perhaps. Would you like me to come over, Pr—Zuko?"

"You mean you don't know that by now?" Zuko huffs, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I believe you have made it _very_ clear," Ka then says, leaning over to kiss his scarred cheek. He pouts when she pulls away, but his face is a little pink, so her mission is accomplished. "I will do my best."

"Yeah, yeah," the prince mumbles, looking away.

"Goodbye, Zuko," Ka says, waving to him before turning around to make her way to the monorail station.

* * *

Ka ends up getting home very late. She sneaks in through the front door, doing her best to close it very silently behind her. She locks it, and turns around to make her way to her room—

—except there's two figures sitting right in the center of the main room.

Ka blinks, and crosses her arms with a mild scowl.

"Twinkletoes fessed up," Toph says, leaning back on her hands and grinning. "Plus I can feel your heartbeat. Did you have a nice time with the prince, _Goddess?_ "

From his place beside the earthbender, Aang shrugs sheepishly. "Sorry."

Ka lets her arms fall and she nods. "I did have a nice time. A wonderful time."

"Oh?" Toph laughs a little. "I ain't gonna tell the others, don't worry. Katara would have a fit." She stands and folds her hands behind her head lazily. "I just hope you know what you're doing," she sing-songs, and walks into her room without another word.

When the door shuts, Aang hops to his feet and walks over to Ka with a curious look. "Did something happen? Wait—you're blushing."

Ka quickly puts a hand to her cheek. It feels warm.

"Something did happen!" Aang gasps, looking delighted. "Oh, I can't believe it! You and Zuko—that's so wild! I _never_ thought this would happen—"

Ka shoves both of her hands onto Aang's mouth, furrowing her eyebrows. "Must you shout it to the world?" she sighs.

Aang just peels her hands away from his face and holds onto her wrists with a sly grin. "Is he your _booooyfrieeend?_ "

Ka rolls her eyes. "So childish. I am not sure, Aang." She yanks her hands free from his grip and puts them on her hips. "Besides, the month is coming to a close. We must do everything in our power to inform the Earth King."

All joking and teasing shoved aside, Aang's face becomes very serious. "Yeah. And find Appa."

"And find Appa," Ka affirms, and then puts a hand on his shoulder. "Come; we should sleep. It will do us no good to stay up all night."

And so they go to bed. Ka dreams of fire and strange orange eyes.

* * *

The next day, they make posters.

Their mission to find Appa begins.

* * *

 **so there you have it! ka and zuko's relationship is surely something, isn't it?**

 **nothing bad could happen... right?**

 **next up: lake laogai, the earth king, and maybe the guru. i'm probably going to save the guru and the crossroads of destiny for one single chapter, however.**

 **(edit: please tell me in the reviews if this chapter is visible/works or not.)**


	13. season two: episodes 17-18

**i know the contents of last chapter seemed fast, but please keep in mind that everything last chapter happened within the span of a month and a few days more.**

* * *

They make posters.

Ka opens the door for the excited Aang and Katara, and steps inside behind them when they cheerfully present their new, official missing posters before their friends.

Sokka frowns from his place on the ground, surrounded by odd-looking drawings, and twirls the brush in his hand. "Hey, I thought designing the lost Appa poster was _my_ job," he complains. "I've been working all day on my Appa!" He holds up his awful drawing with a proud smile. It almost looks like an insect. Katara has to muffle her laughter.

"Sokka, the arrow is on Appa's _head._ "

"This _is_ his head!"

Katara takes the picture from his hands and stares at it in confusion. Ka leans to look over her shoulder. "Why are feet coming out of it?" Katara asks.

Sokka snatches it back indignantly. "Those are his _horns._ " He hands his head in defeat, pouting. "I haven't seen him in a while, okay?"

From her lazy position on the ground, Toph says, "It looks _just_ like him to me!"

Sokka smiles and turns to face her. "Thank you, I worked really—" And then he remembers. "Why do you feel the need to do that?"

"We should just stick with the professional version," Ka mumbles.

Sokka angrily rips up his drawing, and shoves all of his other artwork aside.

Ignoring Sokka's plight, Aang slings his bag around his shoulders and smiles at all his friends. "C'mon!" he encourages. "Let's get busy!"

* * *

"So, _you're_ the genius behind this _incredible_ brew," comment a couple of customers, dressed in fancier clothing than the rest of them, getting up from their table (the table Ka always sits at) and walking over to Uncle. "The whole city is _buzzing_ about you! I hope Pao pays you well."

His uncle smiles. "Good tea is its own reward."

The one man smile turns sly. "But it doesn't have to be the _only_ reward. How would you like to have your own tea shop?"

Uncle looks as if someone's just told him the best news ever (and, well, really, someone has), and he sputters in amazement before managing, "M-my own tea shop? This is a dream come true!"

Pao runs up to stand between the group, pointing a finger at the two men accusingly. "What's going on here? Are you trying to poach my tea-maker?"

"Sorry, Pao," the man says, not sounding even apologetic in the slightest, "but that's business for you, am I right?'

"Mushi," Pao tries, whirling around to face Uncle, "if you stay, I'll make you assistant manager. Wait, _senior_ assistant manager!"

The man, however, provides an even better offer: "I'll provide you with a new apartment in the Upper Ring." _Oh?_ Zuko finds himself paying even closer attention now. "The tea shop is yours to do whatever you want, complete creative freedom."

"I even get to _name_ the shop?"

"Of course!"

"Uh, senior _executive_ assistant manager?"

Uncle silently hands him the pot of tea he had been holding and bows to the man, agreeing to the terms without words. Pao walks away, very close to sobbing. Zuko frowns, putting on a blank face as he walks past his Uncle and the man who had just changed their lives.

"Did you hear, nephew?" Uncle asks as he walks past. "This man wants to give us our own tea shop in the Upper Ring of the city!"

"That's right, young man," the man says, grinning, "your life is about to change for the better!"

"I'll try to contain my joy," he mutters, and slams his tray down on the nearby table before walking outside, and slamming that door shut too.

He stands outside, his arms folded across his chest, his mind racing and unable to pinpoint just what he's feeling. At that moment, a piece of paper suddenly flutters down from the sky. Zuko snatches it up in his hand, and looks at it to see a drawing of the Avatar's bison. His eyes widening, he climbs up to the roof of the tea shop—there are seemingly _tons_ of papers falling, and he looks all around for _any_ sign of the Avatar—

 _What is he doing?_

He's in a relationship with the Minder (albeit a very new and _strange_ one), and he's looking for the Avatar _again?_

His brain hurts. His heart hurts. Zuko silently climbs down without another glance at the paper.

* * *

"We just finished dropping all the leaflets," Aang says, walking in with Ka. "Has anyone come in with news about Appa?"

"It's only been a day," Katara says, moving a piece on some game board. "Just be patient."

Aang frowns and sits, but then a few moments later there is a sudden knock on the door. Aang scrambles to his feet and grins. "Wow, you're right! Patience _really_ pays off!" His smile is wiped off his face as soon as he opens the door, revealing the _original_ Joo Dee to be standing there. "Joo Dee?"

"Hello," she greets, "Aang, and Ka, and Katara, and Sokka, and Toph." She carefully steps inside the house, her eyes looking far too dark for her to be alright.

"What happened to you?" Sokka asks, approaching her. "Did the Dai Li throw you in jail?"

"What?" she asks. "Jail? Of course not. The Dai Li are the protectors of our cultural heritage."

"But you disappeared at the Earth King's party," Toph says matter-of-factly.

"Oh, I simply took a short vacation to Lake Laogai, out in the country." She tilts her head, her smile growing bigger. "It was quite relaxing."

Ka puts her hands on her hips. "You were replaced by another Joo Dee."

Their Joo Dee looks surprised. "... _I'm_ Joo Dee."

"Why are you here?" Aang asks, firmly getting to the point.

"Dropping fliers and putting up posters isn't permitted within the city," Joo Dee informs, pulling one of their Appa flyers from her sleeve and holding it before them. "Not without proper clearance."

"We can't wait around to get permission for everything," Sokka protests.

Joo Dee's eyes get wide and her voice becomes more firm. "You are absolutely forbidden by the rules of the city to continue putting up posters."

Aang clenches his fists, and leans in close to her, progressively getting angrier and angrier as he yells, "We don't care about the rules and we're _not_ asking permission! We're finding Appa on our own and you should just _stay out of our way!_ "

He slams the door on her terrified face, and Ka puts a hand on his shoulder in order to calm him down.

Sokka winces. "That might come back to bite us in the blubber."

"I don't care!" Aang snaps, and Ka has to exhale slowly to dispel the anger that his puts into her body. "From now on, we do whatever it takes to find Appa!"

Toph puts her hands in the air excitedly. "Yeah, let's break some rules!" She destroys half the house with earthbending, and her friends just shake their heads at her as the dust begins to clear.

* * *

"I found out why the Avatar's here," Zuko says, slamming the door shut on their small apartment, holding out the flyer for his bison. "He's lost his bison."

Uncle frowns and takes the flyer, his eyes scanning across it. "We have a chance for a new life here," he says. "If you start stirring up trouble, we could lose _all_ the good things that are happening for us. What happens when _Ka_ finds out you're planning on hunting down her Avatar?"

"Good things are happening for _you!_ " Zuko all but shouts, pointedly ignoring the other part of his words. "Have you ever thought that I want more from life than a nice apartment and a job serving tea?"

Uncle narrows his eyes, probably judging him from his response. "There is nothing wrong with a life of peace and prosperity," he then says, his expression turning soft again. "I suggest you think about what it is that you want from your life and why."

Zuko turns to the window, gritting his teeth. "I want my destiny."

"What that means is up to you."

Stupid Uncle with his stupid confusing words. Zuko stomps away.

* * *

"We'll split up to cover more area. Toph, I guess you should just come with me."

Toph frowns deeply. "Why? " she demands. "Because you think I can't put up posters on my own!?" She angrily takes the paintbrush of glue from Sokka's hands and slaps it on the wall. She slams a poster on the wall, but unfortunately, it ends up backwards. There is a few moments of silence. "It's upside-down, isn't it? I'll just go with Sokka."

* * *

They end up splitting up to cover more area with their posters.

Aang and Ka end up in the Lower Ring (per Ka's request), and Ka ends up showing him the tea shop where she spent her days during the month they had awaited to speak to the Earth King. As Aang puts up posters in front of the shop, Ka walks inside to find her secret Fire Nation friends.

However, she is only told that they have been offered jobs in the Upper Ring, and are most likely home packing.

And so, Aang indulges her in a quick stop to the small apartment. Ka knocks on the door a few times, and smiles when Iroh opens it. His expression brightens when he sees her, but when he sees Aang a ways off, his eyes widen. Ka puts a finger over her lips as in _keep quiet,_ and motions Aang to go put up more posters. He does, and she walks inside.

"Well, now isn't this a pleasant surprise!" Iroh says cheerfully.

"I heard you are moving to the Upper Ring?" Ka asks.

"Yes! I've been offered my very own tea shop!" He puts a hand over his chest and smiles, and almost looks as if he were about to cry. "It's truly a dream come true..."

Ka puts a hand over her mouth to hide a laugh. "Well, you do deserve it."

"Ka?" At the call of her name, she turns to see Zuko standing there in a doorway, looking confused at the sight of her. "What are you doing here?"

She furrows her eyebrows at his tone. "I happened to be around. I assumed you would be happy to see me."

Iroh glances between the two suspiciously. "I'll give you a moment," he says, even though he truly does not have to leave, and backs out of the room.

Ka rolls her eyes, and puts her hands on her hips as Zuko walks closer to her. "Well?" she asks. "What troubles you?"

"Nothing." The answer is said too quick to be true.

"Why do you lie to me?" she demands, poking an accusing finger to his chest.

Zuko suddenly grabs her pointed fist and gets in close. "Why didn't you tell me the Avatar's bison was lost?"

Oh. The flyers. Ka raises her eyebrows. "I felt no reason to."

"It would've been nice to know." He harshly lets her hand go and turns away from her.

"I am sorry?" she says unsurely, and then scoffs. "Why are you behaving this way?"

"I'm—" he starts, taking a few steps backwards, then groans and runs his hands through his hair, very nearly tearing it out.

Ka's eyes suddenly widen in realization. "Is this about my Avatar?" she whisper-yells, clenching her fists and taking a few steps towards him. When he does not reply, she huffs in frustration. "That cannot be your destiny! Not after everything."

"Then what _is?_ "

Well. Now is as good as ever. Ka straightens her back and crosses her arms. "To teach us firebending."

Zuko blinks once, wide-eyed. " _What?_ "

"Who else a better firebending teacher for me and my Avatar than _you?_ " Ka asks, putting a hand to her chest. "I know no one better, and none that will stand my presence."

The prince is flabbergasted beyond belief. He shakes his head and turns his gaze away, putting his hands over his eyes and muttering _This can't be happening._

Ka takes his hands and gives him a hard, determined stare. "You have changed so much, Prince Zuko. Would you have held and kissed me as you did if not so?"

He blushes a little. "... No."

She hums to herself and leans in to kiss his cheek, and then his hands. "Then think about it. Promise me that."

He hesitates. "Okay."

"Do you promise?"

"I promise."

Ka nods, satisfied, and pulls away, leaving his hands dangling in the air awkwardly before he quickly puts them down, looking flustered. She gives him a soft smile, "I must take my leave."

He looks disappointed, and it makes her even happier. "Do you have to?"

"Yes," she says, and gestures to the open flyer he had left sitting out on the table, "for now you know why I am here." He frowns, and she smiles. "When I see you again, will you give me your answer?"

"... Sure."

Not quite the greatest of answers, but she takes it nonetheless. Nodding, she asks him to say goodbye to his uncle for her and walks out, closing the door behind her and walking down the street until she is out of sight. Aang comes out from behind a building with his arms crossed and an amused look gracing his features.

She raises an eyebrow. "What?"

Aang shakes his head with laughter and pushes himself off the wall. "You've grown soft, Minder Ka."

She huffs. "Whatever you say," she sighs. "Let us go find the others."

* * *

Katara has found Jet, and the entire team regroups in the alley where she has him pinned to the wall.

"I'm here to help you find Appa!" Jet shouts when they all move to attack, unfolding his hand and revealing the missing Appa poster.

Aang's eyes widen at the sight of it and he turns to Katara. "Katara, we _have_ to give him a chance."

"I swear, I've changed!" Jet says, looking quite serious. "I was a troubled person and I let my anger get out of control, but I don't even have the gang now! I've put all that behind me!"

Ka finds it odd that he has become _completely_ alone. She narrows her eyes in suspicion, and Katara moves straight to anger—she does not blame her.

"You're lying!"

Toph walks past all them and presses her hand to the wall he is pinned to. "He's _not_ lying."

"How can you tell?" Sokka asks.

"I can feel his breathing and heartbeat," Toph replies, and sometimes Ka forgets _just_ how incredible her earthbending mentor is. "When people lie, there's a physical reaction. He's telling the truth."

"Katara, we don't have any leads," Aang then says. "If Jet says he can take us to Appa, we have to check it out."

Katara frowns, and clenches her fists. "Alright," she agrees, and then points angrily at Jet, "but we're not letting you out of our sight!"

* * *

Jet takes them to an empty warehouse, completely deserted save for a few sacks and piles of rope. "This is the place I heard about," is his explanation.

"There's nothing here," Aang and Ka say in unison, looking around the dimly-lit room.

Katara moves to waterbend in defense. "If this is a trap—"

"I _told_ you, I work nearby!" Jet protests. "Two guys were talking about some giant furry creature they had. I figured it must be Appa!"

Suddenly, from the corner of the warehouse, Toph shouts _He was here!_ and holds up a clump of Appa's fur to the rest of them.

Aang's face falls as he takes the clump in his hands, his eyes going watery. "We missed him..."

Suddenly, an old man pushing a broom without much effort crosses behind them. "They took that big thing yesterday," he says, causing the others to look over at him with shocked looks. "Shipped him out to some island. About time; I've been cleaning up fur, and various—uh— _leavings,_ all day."

Ka watches the way he barely holds onto the broom and the way his sweeping is so distant and lazy. She looks around, but does not see any droppings or fur in sight—apart from the clump Toph had found in the corner. She then narrows her eyes and leans in towards Sokka, whispering, "I do not trust him."

Aang, however, has no time to think about whether this man is genuine or not, and runs up to him. "What island? Where's Appa?"

"Foreman said some rich, royal type on Whaletail Island bought him up," the old man replies. "Guess for a zoo or such. Though, could be the meat that'd be good."

Aang whirls around to his friends. "We've got to get to Whaletail Island!" He pauses. "Where's Whaletail Island?"

Sokka pulls out his map, and observes it for a moment, before his face falls into despair. "Far. Very far." The others gather around as he spreads the map out across the ground, and he points to a small area of land near the bottom of the map. "Here it is. It's near the South Pole, almost all the way back home."

"Aang, it will take us weeks just to get to the tip of the Earth Kingdom," Katara says. "And then we'll need to find a boat to get to the island."

"I don't care," Aang says firmly. "We have a chance to find Appa. We have to try!"

"Must be nice to visit an island," the old man suddenly breaks in. "I haven't had a vacation for years."

"Don't you have some more _hair_ to clean up?"

"Shuffle on, I get you. No more need for Old Sweepy..."

Katara sighs as he walks away, and then turns to Aang. "You're right, Aang," she relents, touching his shoulder, "right now our first concern has to be finding Appa. We can come back when we have him."

"Alright," Sokka says, jumping to his feet, "let's get moving."

Jet begins to follow them. "I'll come with you—"

"We don't need your help!" Katara snaps.

"Why won't you trust me?" he asks, even though Ka is sure the answer is obvious.

Katara crosses her arms as Jet begins to follow the others. "Gee, I wonder!"

* * *

When they come across Jet's old gang back in the city, they discover he has been brainwashed by the Dai Li and end up discovering that he had been taken to Lake Laogai after having fought someone.

(They _also_ discover that the janitor must have been a fraud, and Ka can barely resist telling them all _I told you so._ )

So, he takes them to Lake Laogai, and discover a secret passage underneath the water. Walking throughout the tunnels reveal disturbing truths about Ba Sing Se and the rest of the Dai Li. They pass through rooms where an agent is brainwashing women to pose as _Joo Dee._

Eventually, they make it to a large cell, and when they walk inside, the door closes behind them and the lights turn on—revealing Dai Li agents and Long Feng standing before them.

"You have made yourselves enemies of the state," Long Feng announces, and then looks over to address his agents. "Take them into custody."

Two Dai Li agents jump off the ceiling and surround them, firing gloves made of rocks in an attempt to apprehend them. Toph breaks them apart and creates two rock pillars, sending the agents flying. There are more Dai Li agents then there are of them, but somehow they manage. When Long Feng begins to escape, Aang, Ka, and Jet chase after them. In another part of the underground headquarters is an area with many pipes with water spilling out of them.

"Alright, Avatar," Long Feng says, giving a single, unimpressed glance at Ka, "you've caused me enough problems. This is your last chance... if you want your bison back."

Aang's eyes widen. "You do have Appa! Tell me where he is!"

"Agree to exit the city now," Long Feng orders, "and I'll waive all charges against you and allow you to leave with your lost pet."

Jet suddenly moves into a fighting position, looking furious. "You're in no position to bargain."

"Am I not?"

Aang and Ka both assume stances of their own. "You are definitely not!"

"Jet, the Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai."

Suddenly, Jet's pupils dilate and he straightens into an almost eerie post. "I am honored to accept his invitation," he says in a calm, monotone voice, and then whirls around to swing his hooks at Aang and Ka.

* * *

Uncle finds him. There is no point in hiding himself now. Looking once at the bison, Zuko sighs and removes his mask, looking over at his uncle with an annoyed look, "What are you doing here?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," Uncle says, raising an eyebrow. "What do you plan to do now that you've found the Avatar's bison? Keep him locked in our new apartment? Should I go put on a pot of tea for him, or invite Ka over to visit him?"

He mocks him. "First I have to get it out of here," he replies, turning his back to him.

"And then what!?" Uncle demands, his voice suddenly raising, echoing in the dark chamber. "You never think these things through! This is exactly what happened when you captured the Avatar and Ka at the North Pole! You had them, and then you had nowhere to go!"

"I would have figured something out!"

" _No!_ If their friends hadn't found you, you would have frozen to death!"

 _Stop. Stop. Stop it._ "I know my own destiny, Uncle!"

"Is it your _own_ destiny," Uncle then says, sounding strangely like what Ka has told him time and time again, "or is it a destiny someone else has tried to force on you?"

"Stop it, Uncle! I have to do this!"

"I'm _begging_ you, Prince Zuko!" He has not called him Prince Zuko in a long time. "It's time for you to look inward and begin asking yourself the big questions. _Who_ are you, and what do _you_ want?"

He can only scream in rage, trying to quiet the turmoil in his mind, and he throws down his swords and his mask with a loud clatter.

* * *

"Jet, it's me, Aang!" her Avatar tries when the brainwashed Freedom Fighter comes at them with seemingly no control of his actions. "You don't have to do this!"

"I'm afraid he no longer has a choice," Long Feng says, sounding smug.

Jet comes after them again, his hooks scraping against the ground as he charges towards them. When he swings, Ka leans backwards to avoid his attack and airbends at his feet to push him away. She whirls around to face Long Feng, and all but shouts, "The spirits will watch your death with joy and good will and make your time in their world a living hell."

Maybe a bit harsh. But in her opinion, he deserves it.

Long Feng just laughs. "Good luck, you little _pet._ "

Overcome with anger, she tries to charge after him, but Jet suddenly swings his hooks in her way and Aang has to pull her back and airbend him away.

"He can't make you do this!" Aang shouts, holding Ka behind his back with one arm. "You're a Freedom Fighter! "

Suddenly, Jet's back straightens in shock and he shakes for a moment. Ka watches his eyes become normal again, and as Long Feng shouts at him Do it! Do it now! she grins when he eyes Long Feng from the corner of his eye and then whirls around to fire his sword at him. However, Long Feng only counter sit with an uplifted rock, and then strikes Jet with it, crushing him on the ground.

"Foolish boy," he says as he grabs onto the edge of a pipe. "You've chosen your own demise."

He leaves, but they are more concerned about the boy laying on the wet ground, immobile and wheezing. Ka grabs onto his hand, feeling a very faint pulse from his wrist.

"I'm sorry..." he whispers, his voice strained.

Aang shakes his head. "Don't be."

The rest of the group arrives, and Katara immediately kneels down in an attempt to heal him. Ka lets go of Jet's hand for a moment to assist her, but what she senses is beyond her waterbending abilities.

"This isn't good," Katara says, taking the words right out of her mouth.

Ka slowly removes her hands from Jet, and everything that everyone else is saying falls on deaf ears. It sounds blurred, too far away, and she grabs onto Jet's hand again to bring her back down to earth.

 _May the spirits bring you safe passage,_ she wants to say, but cannot. Her throat burns, and so does her eyes. She jolts at the sudden pressure on her shoulders, and stands up almost mechanically, blinking with wide eyes as Sokka leads her away.

She still finds herself in a trance when they search Appa's empty hold and when they make it outside, and she hugs herself and stands far away from the rest of the group. Dai Li agents ambush them, boxing them in with large walls of earth.

Suddenly, Momo flies into the sky, and when he comes back down, Appa is there too.

Appa smashes through the rock walls, sending the agents flying, and lands in front of Long Feng. The latter charges at him, as if to fight him, but Appa grabs his leg with his teeth and throws him to the lake.

Ka has never been more happy to see him, and she runs up to him with the rest of the group and throws herself into his fur.

Aang closes his eyes and holds him tight. "I missed you, buddy."

* * *

He feels odd. His brain feels odd. His body feels odd.

"You did the right thing, nephew," his uncle says. "Leave it behind."

And so he drops his mask into the water, watching it slowly sink to the bottom, never to be seen again.

His heart twists.

* * *

"Look," Sokka begins confidently after the reunion, "we escaped from the Dai Li. We got Appa back. I'm telling you, we should go to the Earth King now and tell him our plan. We're on a roll!"

Katara frowns. "One good hour after _weeks_ of trouble isn't much of a roll."

Ka shrugs. "It is much better than we have had thus far."

Sokka gestures to her with raised eyebrows as if to say _See?_ and then says, "We can build on it. If we want to invade the Fire Nation when the eclipse happens, we'll need the Earth King's support."

In the background, Aang strokes at his bison's fur, standing on his toes to reach the top of his head.

From her place on the ground, Toph scoffs, "What makes you think we'll _get_ it? I don't know if you've noticed, but things don't usually go that smoothly for our little gang."

She has a point. Ka nods and crosses her arms.

"I know," Sokka admits, "but I've got a good feeling about this. This time will be different."

"Sokka, Long Feng is in control of the city," Katara reasons. "His conspiracy with the Dai Li is too powerful. I think we should just keep flying and leave this horrible place behind us."

"I'm with Sweetness," Toph agrees. "I've seen _enough_ of Ba Sing Se." She throws her arms in the air in exasperation. "And I can't even see!"

Ka pauses for a moment. "We should expose him," she suggests.

Aang suddenly airbends himself beside Sokka, nodding. "Yeah, and now that we have Appa back, there's nothing stopping us from telling the Earth King the truth. About the conspiracy _and_ the war."

"See? Aang and Ka are with me!" Sokka slings both of his arms around their shoulders, pulling them close, gesturing towards them with a big, hopeful smile. "It's the whole reason we came here in the first place. We have to try."

Katara puts a hand to her chin and thinks for a moment. "Well," she ultimately says, "I guess if the Earth King knew the truth, things could change."

Sokka grins. Toph narrows her eyes and stands up. "I don't trust the new, positive Sokka," she says, and then suddenly points at him accusingly. "Long Feng brainwashed you, didn't he!?"

Soon after, they notice ships in the lake, most likely Dai Li agents searching for them. They climb onto Appa and leave, heading for the palace, except there is no saddle.

It is very stressful.

* * *

Zuko stumbles into the apartment, leaning on the wall as he steps inside.

Uncle closes the door behind them, and smiles. "You did the right thing, letting the Avatar's bison go free."

His words sound too distant. Is he even there? Zuko reaches out blindly for him, but feels nothing. His vision is too shaky and his head hurts too much to even think clearly. "I don't feel right..."

And his world promptly goes black.

* * *

To get into the palace they must defend themselves from a barrage of earthbending soldiers and basically break into the place. It is very violent and destructive. Ka wishes it did not have to be this way.

Eventually, they make it to the throne room, and take fighting stances before the king as he sits on his throne—Long Feng and his Dai Li agents suddenly stand before them.

"We _need_ to talk to you," Aang announces.

Long Feng turns to the king. "They're here to overthrow you."

"No," Sokka protests, "we're on your side. We're here to help."

"You have to trust us," Katara urges.

The king abruptly stands from his throne and frowns, his tone getting more and more aggravated as he says, "You invade my palace, lay waste to all my guards, break down my fancy door, and you expect me to _trust_ you?"

Ka and Toph exchange a look. "He has a good point," the latter says.

"If you _are_ on my side, then drop your weapons and stand down!"

After briefly glancing at one another, the group each disarms themselves—Ka and Katara both put their water back in their pouches, Aang drops his staff on the ground, Sokka drops his machete, and Toph oh so gracefully lets the boulder she had been holding fall on the ground, creating a tremor through the floor.

Aang smiles and holds his hands up. "See? We're friends, Your Earthiness."

The king continues to frown, staring at them. Long Feng signals his agents, and suddenly each of them are cuffed with rock gloves behind their backs.

"Detain the assailants!" Long Feng orders, looking more than happy to take them down.

The Dai Li rush behind the group, and Sokka fumbles in the cuffs as he pleads, "But we dropped our weapons. We're your allies!"

"Make sure the Avatar, his _pet,_ and his friends never see daylight again—"

"The Avatar?" the king suddenly asks, and points to Sokka. " _You're_ the Avatar?"

Sokka blinks. "Uh, no," he answers, and nudges his head towards Aang, "him."

Aang bends the rock cuffs away for a moment to raise his arms and smile. "Over here!" he says, and then re-attaches the cuffs behind him. He then nudges his head towards Ka, "And she's my Minder!"

"No pet, " Ka says sharply.

"What does it matter, Your Highness?" Long Feng asks. "They are enemies of the state."

The king glances away for a moment. "Perhaps you're right." Suddenly, when a bear dressed in fancy clothing trots up to Aang and Ka and licks their faces, the king breaks out into a smile. Though Bosco seems to like him. I'll hear what he has to say."

Long Feng looks angered, and Ka resists the urge to flash a smug smirk. She steps forward with Aang, and looks up at the king.

"Well, sir," Aang starts, "there's a _war_ going on right now. For the past one hundred years, in fact."

"The Dai Li has kept it secret from you," Ka continues.

"It is a conspiracy to control the city, and to control you," they finish together.

"A _secret_ war?" the king repeats incredulously. "That's crazy!"

"Completely," Long Feng lies.

"Long Feng didn't want us to tell you, so he stole our sky bison to blackmail us," Aang goes on. "And blackmail is the least of his crimes—"

"—he brainwashed and _killed_ our friend," Ka finishes, her tone so cold even Aang gives her a shocked look.

Long Feng whirls around to face the king, speaking quickly, "All lies. I've never even seen a sky bison, Your Majesty. Frankly, I thought they were extinct."

The king strokes his chin and sits back on his throne. "Your claim is difficult to believe. Even from an Avatar and his Minder." Then Long Feng leans down to whisper something in his ear, something that makes the king's face turn up in horror and think for a moment before declaring, "I have to trust my adviser."

The Dai Li begin to drag them away, but Sokka suddenly freezes in place and whirls around with a big, confident smile. "Wait!" he shouts, bringing his attention back. "I can prove he's lying. Long Feng said he's never seen a sky bison. Ask him to lift his robe."

"What?" Long Feng sputters. "I am _not_ disrobing!"

The king looks thoughtful, raising an eyebrow at Sokka suspiciously. Aang and Sokka grin at each other, and Aang inhales quickly before blowing a large gust of air in Long Feng's direction, lifting his robe and revealing the bite mark that had been left by Appa after he had been thrown in the lake.

"Right there! Appa bit him!"

"Never met a sky bison, huh?" Sokka asks slyly.

Long Feng clears his throat and smooths down his robe. "That happens to be a large birthmark," he says. "Thanks for showing everyone."

"Well, I suppose there's no way to _prove_ where those marks came from..." the king says thoughtfully.

"Of course there is!" Sokka exclaims.

They leave and return with Appa. At some point their restraints are removed. Aang opens his mouth and points at Appa's teeth, before scooting over to point at Long Feng's bite mark.

The king leans down to observe the two and then nods. "Yup. That pretty much proves it." The team cheers. "But it _doesn't_ prove this crazy conspiracy theory." Their cheers turn into sighs. "Though, I suppose this matter's worth looking into." The team makes various noises of confusion and approval before shrugging at one another.

This time, when Long Feng turns and leaves with a displeased look, Ka allows herself the pleasure of smiling smugly at him.

* * *

They take the Earth King to Lake Laogai, except the secret entrance is gone, and has been destroyed. Just before the king prepares to leave, they get one more idea. They only manage to convince the king to come along when Appa is offered as a method of transportation.

"I have to be honest with you," the king says, sitting by Aang and Ka on Appa. "Part of me _really_ hopes that what you're telling me about this war... isn't true."

"I wish it wasn't," the two say in unison, and Aang flicks the reins.

* * *

" _It's getting late. Are you planning to retire soon, my lord?_ "

"I'm not tired." He's not. He's wide awake.

" _Relax, Fire Lord Zuko. Just let go. Give in to it. Shut your eyes for a while._ "

Maybe she's right. He _is_ tired. He closes his eyes.

" _No, Fire Lord Zuko!_ " No. No, he is _not_ tired. " _Do not listen to the blue dragon. You should get out of here right now. Go! Before it's too late!_ "

" _Sleep now, Fire Lord Zuko._ "

The dragons circle around him, until there is darkness. Then, the eyes of the blue dragon appear in the darkness. " _Sleep,_ " she whispers, and then lunges. " _Just like mother!_ "

His mother is inside the dragon. " _Zuko!_ " she pleads. " _Help me!_ "

He is sucked into the floor. Just before he's gone, a face appears above him, screaming, with burning orange eyes and flowing white hair.

Then it is black.

* * *

They make it to the Outer Wall.

"It's still there!" Aang exclaims, pointing to the wall.

Ka leans over the edge to look at it, and grimaces. There has been a wall of earth made around it in an attempt to hide it, and all the mud and water still surrounds it and the wall it embeds itself to.

"What is _that?_ " the king asks, horrified.

"It's a drill," Sokka answers. "A giant drill made by the Fire Nation to break through your walls."

They land on the top of the Outer Wall, and the king finally believes them. Looking down at the drill, his hands clenched on top of the railing, he sighs, "I can't believe I never knew..."

Long Feng suddenly appears on an earth elevator, two Dai Li agents beside him. "I can explain this, Your Majesty," he says quickly, walking up to the king, and waves offhandedly at the drill. "This is nothing more than a... construction project."

"Really?" Katara asks sarcastically, crossing her arms. "Then perhaps you could explain why there's a Fire Nation insignia on your _construction project._ "

When the king looks at his adviser suspiciously, he only nervously crafts another story, "Well, it's _imported,_ of course. You know you can't trust domestic machinery." They only stare at him, and his expression grows more worried. "Surely you don't believe these _children_ instead of your most loyal attendant?"

The king glances between the team and his adviser a few times, then closes his eyes and looks towards the ground with a sigh. "Dai Li! Arrest Long Feng! I want him to stand trial for crimes against the Earth Kingdom."

They all look shocked, but Ka feels nothing but relief. She sees the two Dai Li agents Long Feng came with share a quick glance, and then launch shackles onto his arms, pulling him into their custody.

"You can't arrest me!" Long Feng protests as he is dragged away. "You all need me more than you know!"

Sokka laughs in triumph. "Looks like Long Feng is _long gone!_ Ha! Ah, yeah, I've been waiting to use that one."

Katara stares at him, unimpressed. Ka gives him a silent fist-bump.

* * *

That night, in the palace, the Earth King thanks them.

"I want to thank you, young heroes, for opening my eyes," he says, putting his hands to his chest. "All this time, what I thought was a great metropolis was merely a city of fools. And that makes me the king fool." He buries his face in his hands. "We're at war. With the Fire Nation. "

"That's why we came to Ba Sing Se, Your Highness," Sokka says. "Because we think you can help us end the war."

"We don't have much time," Aang explains. "There's a comet coming this summer."

"Its energy will give the firebenders incredible strength," Ka says. "They will be unstoppable."

"But there is hope," Sokka assures, nodding. "Before the comet comes, we have a window of opportunity: a solar eclipse is coming. The sun will be completely blocked out by the moon, and the firebenders will be helpless."

The king raises his head curiously. "What are you suggesting, Sokka?"

"That's the day we need to invade the Fire Nation. The Day of Black Sun."

The Earth King looks hesitant, and scratches at the side of his head. "I don't know," he then says. "That would require moving troops out of Ba Sing Se. We'd be completely vulnerable."

"You're already vulnerable," Sokka argues, and Ka has to agree. "The Fire Nation won't stop until Ba Sing Se falls. You can either sit back and wait for that to happen, or take the offensive and give yourself a fighting chance." He finishes his mini-speech by clenching his fist and hitting it into his open palm.

The king thinks over his words for a moment. "Very well," he eventually says. "You have my support."

As the team celebrates, a man suddenly rushes inside the throne room.

"Your Majesty," he says, and bows before the king. "I apologize for the interruption."

"This is General How," the king introduces. "He's the leader of the Council of Five, my highest-ranking generals."

"We searched Long Feng's office. I think we found something that will interest everybody."

* * *

And so, in the office, it is revealed that there are secret files on everyone in Ba Sing Se, including the team. A letter to Toph from her mother was stolen—it reads that she is in the city, and wants to see her. Aang and Ka both receive a scroll that had been attached to Appa—it reads that there is a man at the Eastern Air Temple who wishes to aid them in their spiritual journey. An intelligence report from a Water Tribe fleet is given to Sokka and Katara—it reads that their father is protecting the mouth of Chameleon Bay, which is not that far from Ba sing Se.

They are eventually left alone, sitting around each other in a circle as they discuss their new plans.

"I can't believe it," Aang says, as Ka reads over the scroll once more. "There's a man living at the Eastern Air Temple. He says he's a guru."

"What's a guru?" Sokka asks. "Some kind of poisonous blowfish?"

Ka rolls her eyes. "It is a spiritual expert," she corrects.

"He wants to help us take the next step in the Avatar-Minder journey," Aang says excitedly. "He says he can teach us how to control our shared state!"

"And our _jiéhé,_ " Ka adds, rolling up the scroll and setting it down in between her and Aang.

"And I can't believe we know where our dad is now," Katara says, sounding mystified.

"I know what you mean," Toph comments. "My _mom's_ in the city. And from her letter it sounds like she _finally_ understands me."

"This is all such big news! Where do we even start?" Sokka says, asking Ka's unsaid question.

Katara replies with Ka's unsaid answer: "I hate to say it, but we have to split up."

"Split up?" Aang replies worriedly. "We just found Appa and got the family back together! Now you want us to separate?"

"You two _have_ to meet this guru," Katara says. "If we're going to invade the Fire Nation, you need to be ready."

Understanding the circumstances, Aang nods, and says, "Well, if we're going to the Eastern Air Temple, Appa and I can drop you off at Chameleon Bay to see your dad."

Sokka's eyes turn downcast. "Someone has to stay here with the Earth King and help him plan for the invasion." He stands up and stretches his back. "I guess that's me."

"No, Sokka," Katara says quickly, rising to her feet. "I know how badly you wanna help Dad. You go to Chameleon Bay. I'll stay here with the king."

Sokka is suddenly overcome with joy and he looks as if he is about to cry. Running over to his sister, he jumps in place happily as he says, "You are the nicest... sister... ever!" He throws his arms around her and kisses her cheek.

"Easy there, big brother..." Katara chuckles, pushing him off. "Though, you're right, I am."

Ka smiles and picks up the scroll, preparing to walk out. She is more than happy to be out of this place.

* * *

"Katara? I need to tell you something. I've been wanting to say it for a long time."

"What is it, Aang?"

"... Katara, I—"

"Alright! Who's ready to get going on our little men-only man trip?" Sokka rubs his knuckles against Aang's head, pointedly interrupting him in the middle of his would-be confession.

Ka elbows him in the side.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot about you, Ka."

She sighs. "Everyone seems to."

The Earth King suddenly approaches them. "Aang, Sokka, and Ka," he says, "I wish you a good journey. Ba Sing Se owes you its thanks. We look forward to your safe return."

They bow to him in thanks, and Sokka begins climbing onto Appa.

A soldier walks up to the king. "Your Majesty. There are three female warriors here to see you. They're from the island of Kyoshi."

Sokka gasps. "That's Suki!" he shouts, and slides off Appa and onto the ground.

"You know these warriors?" the king questions.

"Oh, yeah," Sokka says, getting up from the ground and rubbing his backside. "The Kyoshi Warriors are a skilled group of fighters. Trustworthy, too. They're good friends of ours."

The Earth King smiles brightly. "Then we shall welcome them as honored guests!"

Just as Aang prepares to climb onto Appa, Katara stops him and hugs him before kissing him on the cheek. He blushes, and Ka turns to hide an amused smile.

"I'm really gonna miss you guys," Toph speaks up.

They share group hugs, and make their separate ways. On Appa, all is silent for a few moments until Sokka speaks up from his place laying lazily on the bison's back.

"You see?" he speaks up above the wind's thrashing. "A little positive thinking works wonders. We got the king on our side, we got Long Feng arrested, and when we get back, Suki's waiting for me."

"Yeah," Aang sighs dreamily, leaning back on his hands. "Girls are waiting for us. Thanks, positive attitude."

"Well, except for Ka," Sokka says, and shrugs when she turns to give him a look. "Or, is that girl in that dumb fortune-telling village waiting for you?"

Ka thinks of Zuko, and turns back around to face the front. She sees Aang eye her out of the corner of his eyes, but ignores it.

"Everything is gonna work out perfectly," Sokka says next, ultimately jinxing them. "From now on and forever!"

* * *

Aang ends up stopping at the Upper Ring, much to Ka's embarrassment.

"What, did we forget something?" Sokka asks, looking up and around.

"Ka just has some _business_ to take care of," Aang says slyly, and Ka shoots him an angry glare.

Sokka raises an eyebrow, and then shrugs and lays back down. "Alright, but make it quick."

Ka groans and hops off Appa, brushing herself off before walking down the street and turning the corner. She only vaguely remembers Iroh's description of their new apartment, and ends up finding it when she smells the familiar scent of tea and jook.

She knocks on the door, and when Iroh opens it, he beams.

"Oh, Ka! We haven't seen you in quite some time, have we?"

"We have not," Ka says, and steps inside. As soon as Iroh closes the door behind her, Zuko comes speeding out of the hallway and scoops her up into his arms, spinning her around with a big smile. She gasps, and grabs onto his shoulders when he lets her down. "Zuko?" she asks in shock. "What has gotten into you?"

Iroh puts his hands up and walks out of the room with a chuckle. Zuko leans in to kiss her cheek.

"I just got over a really bad fever," he says.

Ka's eyes widen. "Are you alright?"

Zuko laughs, a sound Ka has rarely heard. It takes her aback, and she stares with wide, continuously shocked eyes as he says, "I just said I got over it, didn't I? I feel much better now, so it's okay!"

He still hasn't let go of her waist. Ka feels slightly embarrassed, and looks off to the side. "I came here to tell you that I am going to be gone for quite some time," she informs, and looks back to see his disappointed face. "I am going to a guru who can aid us in our spiritual journey."

"That's amazing," Zuko says, his voice so genuine. "I'm glad you found someone, but I'm sad you'll be gone."

"I wanted to say goodbye to you before I left..." Ka says, and then tugs at his sleeve a little. "I also wanted to ask... your answer."

"My answer?"

"What I asked last time I came." She stares at him expectantly.

It takes a few moments for it to click, and his eyes suddenly go dark with... something. "Well..." he starts, his grip suddenly tightening almost painfully. "I suppose my answer is yes. I couldn't refuse anything from you."

Ka furrows her eyebrows. "Are you being honest with me?"

"I would never lie to you, love."

Oh, the nicknames. Ka puts a hand over her eyes and sighs. "Must you embarrass me so?" she mutters, her face growing hot, and then pulls away from his grip. "You will make a great firebending teacher. I wish I could stay longer, but I must leave. I do not have much time."

Just as she turns, she hears Zuko go _Wait!_ and suddenly she is being pulled back by the wrist and being dipped low, and there is a pair of lips pressing against hers, firm and warm and assuring. She kisses him back, and when he spins her back upright, she puts a hand over her chest and stares at him in surprise.

"Have a safe journey," he says, smiling.

"I... will?" Ka replies unsurely, and then turns to leave. Just before she walks out the door, she turns around one last time and waves at him with a soft smile.

She walks back to Appa almost mechanically, and climbs onto his head without saying a word to her friends. Aang leans in close, observing her face. It only grows more hot the more he stares.

"What happened—"

"He agreed," she says quietly, and turns to him, "to be our teacher."

Apparently, she did not say it quietly enough. Sokka lifts his head. "Who agreed to what?"

Oh dear. Aang and Ka share a look, and they take off. It is only until they get past the wall that they actually get the courage to speak to him.

"Sokka... we have something to tell you."

* * *

 **shorter chapter this time around. next up: the guru and the crossroads of destiny. next one's going to be a fun one.**


	14. season two: episodes 19-20

**the last of season 2.**

 **enjoy.**

* * *

"You're dating the prince of the _Fire Nation?_ The guy who's been chasing us halfway across the _world?_ "

Ka sighs. "Have you not heard a word of what I said?" She rolls her eyes and flips her hair behind her shoulder. "I _happened_ upon his uncle's tea shop, and we made an agreement. Perhaps you would have _noticed_ if you were not too busy freaking out."

Aang turns around and crosses his legs. "Sokka, he's going to be our _firebending_ teacher! It's all gonna be alright; Ka knows what she's doing."

Sokka is still wide-eyed, face paled, his hands hovering in front of him. "You're dating _Zuko_ and you didn't even _tell us_ he was here?"

Ka frowns deeply. "I do not expect _you_ to understand."

"Ugh," she hears Sokka mutter behind her back, "I should've _known_ you were up to no good. Leave it up to _you_ to mess everything up."

She tightens her grip on the fabric of her tunic. Aang glances worriedly between the two of them. Appa growls, but they are unsure as to what to.

"I took the initiative to find us a teacher," Ka says coldly. She does not turn around.

Sokka just scoffs behind her. She hears the shuffling of fabric. He is probably crossing his arms and giving Aang an amused look. " _Women,_ am I right, Aang? It's not like your pet just _jeopardized_ our entire mi—"

He cannot finish his sentence, for Ka has uncapped her pouch and whirled around, for Ka has whipped a stream of water, hard, against his skin, giving him the most angered glare he has ever seen. Sokka leans back a little in shock, fear gleaming in his eyes.

"Of all the people to call me a _pet,_ " she says, and swallows, "I had not expected _you_ to be one." Then she bends the water back into her pouch, turns around, and grabs onto Appa's reins. "We are almost there," she announces, her voice quiet, and it is silent for a few moments.

It becomes more than a few moments. A whole of fifteen minutes passes.

Then Aang, ever the brightest, tries to change the subject, the moment they land and they are exchanging their goodbyes.

"You haven't seen your dad in over two years! You must be _so_ excited!"

It helps to lessen the silence in the air, but the tension remains. Ka refuses to look anywhere but ahead.

Sokka clutches his stomach and groans. "I know I should be, but... I just feel sick to my stomach."

Aang smiles and leans over to pat his shoulder. "Don't be nervous. He's going to be _so_ happy to see you!"

Sokka smiles back, and leans back on his hands. "So what about you? Are you guys nervous to meet this guru?"

"No," Ka replies firmly.

"Not at all," Aang agrees. "We're ready to master our shared state. We'll do whatever it takes."

Sokka eventually leaves, and they fly off towards the Eastern Air Temple. They do not talk on the way there; they do not need to.

They can feel one another's emotions and thoughts. Ka does not feel like speaking. So she does not.

Neither does Aang. They fly in comfortable silence.

* * *

The Air Temples are beautiful, Ka thinks. So much time and work was put into the creation of each one, and the detail is beyond amazing. Here at the Eastern Temple, with the sun low in the sky, the buildings bathed in orange, it looks incredible. Ka's bad mood begins to lift.

They see a small, dark-skinned man meditating on the outdoor floor of one of the mountains, and land Appa on the base of the staircase. Walking up, they see the man, completely still in his meditation, and he does not even spare them a glance when they stand before him.

"Uh, hello?" Aang asks. "You're Guru Pathik, right? The person who attached the note to Appa's horn?"

Guru Pathik hums in affirmation. "Indeed," he says, his eyes opening to gaze upon them. "I was a spiritual brother of your people, Avatar, and a personal friend of Monk Gyatso."

Aang's eyes widen in amazement. Ka's reaction is similar, except she can only wonder how _old_ this man is. The two take a seat across from him, folding their legs.

"In your note," Aang continues, "you said you could teach us how to gain control of our shared state."

"How?" Ka asks.

"You must gain balance within yourself, before you can bring balance to the world," Guru Pathik informs, and then puts his hand behind his back. "And the first step to gaining balance begins with this." He holds out a wooden bowl filled with a strange, yellow liquid (that does not look entirely like a liquid). "Drink up!"

Aang takes it first, eyeing it curiously. He then proceeds to chug half the bowl, and spits it out to his left immediately—Ka has to lean back to avoid it from hitting her.

Groaning in disgust, he all but tosses the bowl into Ka's hands. "Ugh! It tastes like onion and banana juice!"

"That's because it is!" Guru Pathik replies happily, and eagerly gulps down his own bowl before holding it over his head with a smile. "Yum yum!"

Aang and Ka just share a look.

* * *

When the moon is high in the sky, Guru Pathik takes them to a small creek in lower-levels of the Eastern Air Temple. The mist surrounding the water is mesmerizing, but the plant life that prevents the creek from truly flowing somewhat hinders that.

Aang and Ka are dressed down—Aang is without his shirt, and merely resides in his pants; Ka is without her large tunic, and merely resides in her brown pants and underwrappings.

"In order to master your shared state, as well as your individual ones, you must open all the chakras," Guru Pathik explains, but when he opens his mouth to continue, Ka interrupts with:

"Individual ones?"

Their guru smiles. "You two may be two halves of a whole, but you are also two separate beings!" When his students just stare, he goes on, "When you are in your shared state, you don't _always_ combine, do you?"

Ka shakes her head.

"Before you were two, there was one, and then another," Guru Pathik says, and Ka's blood runs cold. "You each have your own spirits, and therefore, your own separate, powerful states. Usually referred to as: the Avatar State, and the Minder State."

Ka blinks, and then nudges Aang with her elbow. He seems dead and tired.

"But," their guru winces, "those separate states don't usually happen unless your other half is either dead, or you have not met them yet."

Aang and Ka share a grimace.

"Let us hope it does not come to that," Ka says.

Guru Pathik nods. "Let's hope," he agrees, and then looks towards them once more. "Alright, tell me everything you know about chakras."

Aang rubs his eyes sleepily. "What are chakras?"

Ka sighs. "The flow of energy in our bodies," she answers.

"Correct!" Guru Pathik says, and takes a stick off the ground before squatting down in front of the first pool of the stream. "The water flows through this creek, much like the energy flows through our bodies." He swirls the stick around in the muddy water. "As you see, there are several pools where the water swirls around before flowing on. These pools are like our chakras."

"Oh, so what Ka said," Aang says. "Pools of spiraling energy in our bodies."

"Exactly. If nothing else were around, this creek would flow pure and clear. However, life is messy, and things tend to fall in the creek. And then what happens?"

"The creek can't flow," Aang and Ka answer in unison.

"Yes," their guru says, "but, if we open the paths between the pools..." He leans forward and removes a piece of moss with his stick.

Aang grins. "The energy flows!"

The moss falls away and the water begins to glow bright and beautiful with all the mess gone. Ka smiles at the sight, and takes the liberty to remove a piece of moss before it can get stuck once more.

* * *

They are then taken to a deep, dark cavern—the edges are twisted and winding; it almost reminds Ka of her father's cavern.

"There are seven chakras that go up the body," Guru Pathik explains to them as they sit cross-legged across from him. "Each pool of energy has a purpose, and can be blocked by a specific kind of emotional muck." He furrows his eyebrows and his eyes turn serious. "Be warned. Opening the chakras is an intense experience, and once you begin the process, you _cannot_ stop until all seven are open. Are you ready?"

Aang and Ka look at each other and nod once, before turning back to their guru.

"We will do whatever it takes," Ka replies.

Their guru nods back. "First we will open the Earth Chakra, located at the base of the spine." As he speaks, Aang and Ka close their eyes and focus. "It deals with survival, and is blocked by fear. What are you most afraid of? Let your fears become clear to you."

Ka's grip on her legs tighten as images of her friend suffering, the comet, Fire Lord Ozai, and blazing fire pass through her mind. Each one makes her heart race, her throat tight, and then eventually before her ears comes her father, grinning down at her with that awful, smug look—like he has finally, finally gotten her. Beside her, Aang lets out a horrified scream. Ka slaps her hands over her face and sobs into them.

"Your visions are not real!" Guru Pathik shouts, sounding too far away. "You are concerned for your survival, but you must surrender those fears. Let your fears flow down the creek."

The image slowly fades away, and Ka lets her hands fall from her face. She inhales shakily, and opens her eyes to see Guru Pathik smiling at them. Aang looks at her worriedly, but she just stares straight ahead, refusing to acknowledge him.

"You have opened your Earth Chakras!"

* * *

Next, they go behind a large, powerful waterfall. The background noise is quite calming.

"Next is the—"

"Water Chakra?" Aang and Ka guess.

"Brilliant! Maybe one day you will be a guru too!" Guru Pathik exclaims happily, and then falls serious once more. His personality changes always catch Ka off guard. "This chakra deals with pleasure and is blocked by guilt. Now, look at all the guilt which burdens you so." They close their eyes. "What do you blame yourself for?"

"I ran away," Ka hears her Avatar say distantly.

She sees an image of her kneeling beside the fallen Jet, holding his hand and feeling his heartbeat slow. "We could have saved him," she whispers.

Then, themselves, hovering high above General Fong's base and destroying the entirety of it. "We hurt all those people," they say in unison.

"Accept the reality that these things happened, but do not let them cloud and poison your energy. If you are to be a positive influence on the world, you need to forgive yourself."

Forgiveness is hard. Ka clenches her fists as she takes a deep breath. Deep down, perhaps she will always regret everything she is guilty for, but as she exhales, she feels something open inside of her.

Strange.

* * *

The sun begins to rise and the warmth washes over them as they sit on a foggy ledge, facing the sunrise.

"Third is the Fire Chakra, located in the stomach."

Aang holds his stomach and grumbles, "My Fire Chakra would like to eat something other than onion-banana juice."

Guru Pathik laughs. "Good one! Moving on. This chakra deals with willpower, and is blocked by shame. What are you ashamed of? What are your biggest disappointments in yourself?"

When Ka closes her eyes, she sees herself squeezing Aang's hand as she steps inside her father's cavern, her entire body trembling with fear. She sees herself attempting to firebend for the first time, only to have it crumble into ashes at her feet and for her Avatar to get a grip on it without a problem.

"I'm never going to firebend again," she hears Aang say, and remembers when he had burned Katara's hands at the same moment. "I can't."

She says nothing.

"You will never find balance if you deny this part of your life," Guru Pathik says. "You are the Avatar, and the Minder, and therefore, you are both firebenders." When they breathe deeply and open their eyes, their guru stares at them oddly. "Hm... that chakra opened less like a flowing creek, and more like a... burping bison."

Aang suddenly lets out a loud belch, then pauses. "Tastes like onions and bananas, but strangely something else." He looks at Guru Pathik. "Pickles?"

Guru Pathik just shrugs.

* * *

For the fourth chakra, they are taken to a more ruined and destroyed part of the Air Temple. Statues and pillars surround them. It is located in the heart, and blocks love with grief. Ka's grief is incomparable to Aang's—after all, she has not lost her entire culture, all of her people.

(She wonders if she truly has one.)

The fifth chakra deals with truth and is blocked by lies, the ones we tell ourselves. Aang's lie has to do with being the Avatar. Ka's lie has to do with her insecurity, her position in the world, and where she stands in other's hearts. This one takes time to open.

The sixth chakra deals with insight and is blocked by illusion. The greatest illusion is the illusion of separation—things that are different are actually one in the same. All elements are one. All people are one. This one is much easier to open than the last.

Eventually, they get to the seventh, and the last chakra. They sit atop the temple at night, the moon and stars gazing down and watching them from every corner. Ka wonders if Yue is there, too.

"This is the last chakra, isn't it?" Aang asks.

"Yes," Guru Pathik replies. "Once you open this chakra, you will be able to go in and out of your shared and separate states at will, and when you are in those states, you will have complete control and awareness of all your actions."

That sounds nice. Ka smiles.

"Let's do this."

"The Thought Chakra is located at the crown of the head. It deals with pure cosmic energy, and is blocked by earthly attachment." Ka does not like the sound of this one, but she closes her eyes and focuses nonetheless. "Meditate on what attaches you to this world." _Her friends... Aang... Zuko._ "Now, let all those attachments go. Let them flow down the river, forgotten."

 _Wait._

"What?" Aang and Ka protest in unison.

"Why would I let go of Katara? I love her!" Aang asks just as Ka says, "I could _never_ let go of Zuko."

"Learn to let them go," Guru Pathik urges, "or you cannot let the cosmic energy flow in from the universe."

"Why would I choose cosmic energy over Katara?" Aang asks angrily, and throws his hands in the air. "How could it be a bad thing that I feel an attachment to her? Three chakras ago that was a good thing!"

"You must learn to _let go._ "

She could not. She could never. Ka's mind races with thoughts of the prince, how far they have come from that fateful day in the Southern Water Tribe. She thinks of his hands, his warmth, his face. Must she let him go to protect the world? Must she let go of something she holds dear to her heart just for unimaginable power?

(She already knows the answer.)

"I'm sorry, but I can't let go of Katara," Aang says firmly.

"Aang, Ka," Guru Pathik says, "to master your shared state, you must open _all_ the chakras. Surrender yourself."

He pauses. Ka does not say a word. She knows what she must do, and she closes her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Now think of your attachments and let them go. Let the pure cosmic energy flow."

The image of Zuko fades off into the distance, and suddenly she is dropped onto a bridge made of pure energy. Before her sits her and Aang's fusion, one eye glowing bright white and the other orange. She takes a few steps forward, her hands trembling in anticipation, but suddenly hears the sound of shrieking.

Whirling around, she sees a vision of Katara struggling in chains. Next comes a vision of Zuko being engulfed by flames, screaming in horrible pain.

Ka gasps, her hands reaching up to cover her mouth in horror. She turns her back on their fusion, and starts to run the opposite direction. The bridge begins to fall away, and suddenly they are brought back to reality.

"Katara and Zuko are in danger!" Aang exclaims, as he apparently had the same visions as she. "We have to go!"

They jump up to leave, but their guru stops them. "No!" he shouts, and they turn back to look at him. "By choosing attachment, you have locked your chakras! If you leave now, you won't be able to go into your shared state at all."

They pause. Aang and Ka look at each other once, before mutually deciding on what is right.

So they leave.

* * *

They pick up Sokka on the way back towards Ba Sing Se. They pointedly do not mention the fact that Zuko was included in their visions.

"So, what kind of trouble is Katara in?" Sokka asks worriedly.

"I don't know," Aang replies, flicking Appa's reins in order to move faster. "In our vision, we just knew she needed help."

Sokka sighs. "It'd be nice if your freaky twin powers could be just a little more specific from time to time." He crosses his arms, and then turns to see a mound of earth passing nearby, speeding towards the wall. "What is that?"

Flying down beside the mound, they discover it is, in fact, _Toph,_ surfing the earth as fast as she possibly can.

"Need a ride?" Sokka shouts, forgetting Toph is blind and had probably not noticed they were even there.

Toph shrieks at the sound of his voice and falls backwards, but Ka airbends herself down and scoops her up just before she can hit the ground, and places her back down on Appa's head.

"Nice one," she and Toph both deadpan in unison.

Sokka just glances between them. "You two have been hanging out too much."

Toph shifts so she is holding onto Ka's arm, and speaks up, "So how did it go with the guru? Did you master the Avatar State?"

"Uh..." The two of them exchange a look.

"Are you two okay?" Sokka asks, looking between them with his eyebrows raised.

"I'm great!" Aang suddenly shouts, very obviously lying. "We're great! It went great with the guru. We completely mastered our shared state." He laughs nervously and looks down at his lap. "Yeah..."

Ka just sighs, and runs a hand through her hair. She can never tell Zuko that she chose him over unimaginable power and cosmic energy.

(He would never let her live it down.)

* * *

Katara paces back and forth in the crystal cavern, berating herself for how much of a _fool_ she is! How could she hadn't have noticed that the Kyoshi Warriors were _fakes?_ How could she be so _stupid?_

And _Prince Zuko!_ In the _city!_ Right under their noses! Katara resists the urge to pull her hair out.

Suddenly, she hears a hole open up above, and for a brief, hopeful moment, she thinks it's someone coming to rescue her, but it's only a Dai Li agent, looking down at her with a blank expression.

"You've got company," he says, and then a body is being tossed down.

The figure rolls down and lands before him, and when he lifts his head, Katara sees the telltale scar and gasps. "Zuko!" Her shock quickly turns to anger, and she wishes to do nothing but smack him with water.

But she has none, so she resorts to trying to set him on fire with her glare.

* * *

They arrive at the king's palace to find that Katara is fine, and that she has apparently been off with the Kyoshi Warriors. Ka does not ask about Zuko, of course, but she feels Aang's worried eyes on her even as they fly back towards the estate they are currently staying at.

When they get there, the estate is empty. Katara is nowhere to be found.

"Katara is in trouble! I knew it!"

"Oh no!"

"Wait!" Toph shouts, gathering all their attention. She points at the front door. "Someone's at the door." Sure enough, a few moments later, there comes a soft knock. Toph then smiles, and starts to walk towards it. "Actually, I know who it is. It's an old friend of mine." She swings the door open, and Ka's eyes widen at the sight of Iroh standing there. "Glad to see you're okay."

He looks desperate. "I need your help," he says.

Aang and Sokka suddenly screech, and jump into almost comical-looking fighting stances. Toph smiles and waves. Ka sighs and rubs her temples.

"You guys _know_ each other?" Aang asks Toph, and Ka notices how he hides the fact that she obviously knows him as well, as she is, well, for lack of a better term, _dating_ his nephew. Even though everyone in this room knows she is, anyway.

"I met him in the woods once and knocked him down," Toph replies. "Then he gave me some tea and some very good advice."

Iroh bows slightly, ever polite. "May I come in?" When Toph nods, he steps inside and looks across the group. "Princess Azula is here in Ba Sing Se."

Ka's eyes widen. "She must have Katara," she and Aang say in unison.

"She has captured my nephew as well," Iroh replies.

"She has Zuko?" Ka gasps, and then whirls around to her friends. "We must go get them."

"We'll work together to fight Azula, and save Katara and Zuko," Aang agrees.

"Whoa there!" Sokka protests, walking up to Aang and pointing at him. "You lost me at _Zuko._ "

Ka frowns deeply.

Iroh steps forward. "I know how you must feel about my nephew," he says, putting a hand on Sokka's shoulder, "but believe me when I tell you there is _good_ inside him."

Sokka roughly shoves him away. " _Good inside him_ isn't enough! Why don't you come back when it's _outside_ him too, okay?"

Ka smacks his chest, and he turns to look at her. "Take my feelings into consideration!" she protests, putting her hands on her hips and glaring. "Can you not trust my judgement?"

Sokka looks as if he is about to reply, but Aang breaks in with: "Katara's in trouble. All of Ba Sing Se is in trouble. Working together is our best chance."

He looks down at the ground, and then back up at Aang, nodding.

"I brought someone along who might be able to help us," Iroh says, walking back outside and gesturing towards a bounded Dai Li agent.

The agent does not resist, and immediately tells them everything they wish to know. The princess and Long Feng have plotted a coup, and are going to overthrow the Earth King. Katara and Zuko are being held in the Crystal Catacombs deep beneath the palace.

And so they go.

* * *

"Why did they throw you in here?" She's so furious. She can't stop yelling. It doesn't make her feel any better. "Oh, wait, let me guess. It's a trap. So that when Aang and Ka show up to help me, you can _finally_ have them in your little Fire Nation clutches!"

Zuko turns to look at her, and then back at the ground again.

She clenches her fists. "You're a _terrible_ person!" she yells. "You know that? Always following us! Hunting the Avatar and the Minder! Trying to capture the world's last hopes for peace! But what do _you_ care? You're the Fire Lord's son. Spreading war and violence and hatred is in your _blood!_ "

That's when Zuko finally speaks up. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"I _don't?_ " she scoffs. "How _dare_ you! You have _no_ idea what this war has put me through!" She turns her back to him and sits on the ground, suddenly overcome with sadness. "Me personally!" She holds onto her necklace and lets out a broken sob. "The Fire Nation took my mother away from me."

There's a pause. "I'm sorry," comes Zuko's voice, and then sound of him moving. "That's something we have in common."

Now _there's_ something she didn't expect.

* * *

In front of the palace, Toph squats down, pressing her hand against the ground and raising her eyebrows. "Well, what'd you know?" she says. "There _is_ an ancient city down there. But it's deep." She stands and makes a tunnel through the ground as deep as she can.

Behind the group, Sokka taps his chin in thought. "We should split up," he suggests. "Aang, Ka, you go with Iroh to look for Katara and the angry jerk." He turns to Iroh and Ka, "No offence."

"None taken," Iroh says, shrugging. Ka just rolls her eyes.

"And I'll go with Toph to warn the Earth King of Azula's coup."

With that, they separate, and the three head down the tunnel. Iroh lights his hand on fire to give them light as they walk, and when they reach the end, Aang and Ka earthbend the ground even deeper.

"So," Aang starts, trying to get a conversation going in the thick silence, "Toph thinks you give pretty good advice, and great tea!"

"It is true," Ka says.

"The key to both is proper aging," is Iroh's reply. "What's on your mind?"

Ka somehow has a feeling she knows what he is going to ask. She earthbends the ground deeper as Aang begins to tell his story.

Or, rather, _their_ story.

"Well, we met with this guru who was supposed to help us master our shared state," Aang starts, "and control this _great_ power, but to do it, we had to let go of someone we love." They all stop, and Ka clenches her fists. "And I just couldn't. We couldn't."

"Perfection and power are overrated," Iroh says, and Ka turns to face him. "I think you were very wise to choose happiness and love." He smiles at her, and she smiles back.

"What happens if we can't save anyone and beat Azula?" Aang asks, earthbending again. "Without our shared state, what if we're not powerful enough?"

" _Must_ you speak that way?" Ka sighs.

"I don't know the answer," Iroh admits. "Sometimes, life is like this dark tunnel. You can't always see the light at the end of the tunnel, but if you just keep moving—" Aang and Ka earthbend the last of the tunnel, and Iroh's fire blows out, the lights from the crystals washing over them, "—you will come to a better place."

* * *

Zuko tells her his story. It breaks her heart. She can do nothing but apologize.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you before," she tells him.

"It doesn't matter," Zuko says, sounding drained.

"It's just that for so long now, whenever I would imagine the face of the enemy... it was _your_ face."

"My face?" He sounds somewhat hurt, and reaches up to brush his fingers against his scar. "I see..."

"No, no," she urges quickly, because _no, she didn't mean that, stop it Zuko,_ "that's—that's not what I meant."

"It's okay," Zuko says, but it's really not. He turns his back to her. "I used to think this scar marked me. The mark of the banished prince, cursed to chase the Avatar forever. But lately, I've realized I'm free to determine my own destiny, even if I'll never be free of my mark."

He sounds wistful. Katara suddenly remembers the spirit water, and she gasps, "Maybe you _could_ be free of it."

Zuko turns around, his eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

"I have healing abilities."

"It's a scar," Zuko scoffs, "it can't be healed."

Katara reaches under her shirt and pulls out the vial she received from Master Pakku. "This is water from the Spirit Oasis at the North Pole. It has special properties, so I've been saving it for something important." She moves stand in front of him, and the last time she had been this close to the enemy was back during the whole pirates fiasco. "I don't know if it would work, but..." She trails off, and slowly puts her hand to rest on his scar, feeling the rough skin underneath.

Before she can even get the water out, the wall beside them suddenly breaks apart, sending crystals and parts of rock flying. Aang, Ka, and Iroh emerge from it, and Katara beams upon seeing her friends. _Finally._

"Aang!" She embraces him quickly, tightening her arms around him, and then moves to hug Ka, but the second hug is short-lived. She feels her pull away and look over at Zuko with a worried gaze. But there's something else in her eyes.

Longing. _Love._

Katara looks between them with wide eyes, but chooses not to acknowledge it right now.

"Aang," she says happily, "I _knew_ you would come."

"Uncle, I don't understand," Zuko says roughly. "What are you doing with the Avatar and Ka—the Minder?"

Oh, he definitely can't hide that slip. Katara sees his face turn pink, and eyes Ka with a suspicious look. Something is definitely going on.

"Saving _you,_ that's what," Aang retorts.

Zuko growls and takes a step forward, but his uncle quickly stops him with a hand on his chest. "Zuko, it's time we talked," he says, and then motions to the others. "Go help your other friends. We'll catch up with you."

So they leave. Katara can't help but look back at Zuko before disappearing.

 _How can a father treat his own child that way?_

* * *

"Why, Uncle?" is the only question he can ask.

"You're not the man you used to be, Zuko." It's true. He's not. "You are stronger and wiser and freer that you have _ever_ been. And now you have come to the crossroads of your destiny. It's time for you to choose. It's time for you to choose _good._ "

But what _is_ good? What's right? What's wrong? He wants to scream in rage but he can only gasp as crystals suddenly encase Uncle. His sister, along with two Dai Li agents, slide down from the sides of the chamber.

"I expected this kind of treachery from Uncle," Azula starts, "but Zuko, _Prince_ Zuko, you're a lot of things, but you're not a traitor, are you?"

 _Shut up. Shut up._ "Release him immediately."

"It's not too late for you, Zuko," his sister all but taunts. "You can still redeem yourself."

"The kind of redemption she offers is not for you," Uncle says from behind him.

"Why don't you let _him_ decide, Uncle?" Azula snaps, and then takes a step forward towards him. "I _need_ you, Zuko. I've plotted every move of this day, this _glorious_ day in Fire Nation history, and the only way we win is _together._ At the end of this day, you will have your honor back. You will have Father's love. You will have _everything_ you want."

Everything. _Home._ He will have—

Ka's face flashes through his mind, and it hits him like a punch to the throat.

"Zuko," Uncle urges, "I am begging you. Look into your heart and see what it is that you _truly_ want."

Azula pauses. "You are free to choose." She motions for her agents to leave, and walks through the opening to follow Ka and her friends.

To go attack them, probably.

Zuko feels as if his head is spinning.

What should he do?

* * *

They run through the Crystal Catacombs, through the large, hall-looking room, and they stop in place once Ka suddenly feels a presence of energy behind her. Whirling around, she kicks her heel into the ground and bends the earth up to block the lightning coming their way. Katara bends water from the nearby fountain to stop another attack, but the mist only prevents them from seeing the princess as she jumps on a crystal and firebend at them.

Ka bends the crystal pillar she stands on and crumbles it, and the princess gasps before jumping off and landing in front of them. Before Princess Azula can attack, there is a sudden fire blast coming in between them. When she turns, she sees Zuko standing there, in a fighting position, glancing between his sister and Ka. She waits for him to join them—

—but then her heart drops as fast as the blazing fireball speeding towards them.

Aang has to pull her away when she seems fixed in place. Ka rolls onto the ground, her throat closing up, feeling panic settle in.

He is attacking them. Zuko chose. He chose against them.

"Ka!" Aang shouts, pulling her up to her feet when Zuko starts to punch more fire at them. "C'mon!"

Her mind is blank, and she starts to run.

Zuko chases after them. Aang airbends the air currents around him to make a human-shaped gust of air at Zuko, knocking him down to the ground and sending him tumbling. While he is down, Ka finds it in herself to swirl the air around him, but Zuko maneuvers around the attacks and gets back up on his feet. More fire comes at them, but they jump onto differing rock pillars and dance around them, just barely managing to avoid getting burnt. Zuko's face twists in pure anger, and from his anger he summons a greater, thicker, stronger blast of fire. Aang earthbends some crystals to protect him, but the crystals shatter, sending the two of them flying to another clump of crystals. Ka looks up at a stalactite and kicks it down, earthbending the ground to increase its impact in order to send Zuko flying.

When he lands on the ground, she feels guilt, regret, and triumph all at once.

"What do you think you are doing?" she shouts, her voice echoing through the cavern.

Zuko sits up and stares at her for a moment, and she just clenches her fists and wills herself not to cry. Then he turns away to free his sister from one of Katara's attacks, and the princess decides to move onto the two of them.

Princess Azula charges at them using firebending to propel her forward. Aang and Ka take matching deep breaths and bend the crystals onto their bodies, forming armor, and charge towards the princess. She suddenly stops and kicks at them both, shattering their armor to pieces and sending them reeling to the other side of the cavern. After a few moments of wallowing in their pain, they jump out of the building they had crashed into and surf towards the prince and princess to save Katara from their attacks. However, a Dai Li agent breaks them, and knock them down to the ground. More agents gather behind the Fire Nation siblings, and Katara looks almost helpless around them.

"There's too many..." Aang whispers. He looks at Ka with a desperate expression, and she has no words. She only nods, and Aang squeezes his eyes shut. "I'm sorry, Katara."

They turn away from their attackers, sitting cross-legged across from each other, and earthbend a crystal shelter in the form of a tent. Closing their eyes, they focus as hard as they can, and it is more than easy to let go of Zuko than before. The spiritual plane returns, and Ka finds herself standing beside her Avatar, looking up at their fusion as they glow.

This time, they step forward, and they do not stop.

* * *

She is surrounded. All hope is lost.

At least, that is what Katara thinks, until she watches Aang and Ka sadly isolate themselves inside a makeshift crystal tent. After a few moments, the inside of the tent begins to glow bright, very nearly blinding all of them. Zuko's arms fall and he steps back, eyes wide. The Dai Li agents slowly back away, but Azula stands firm and tall.

In fact, she is _grinning._

Suddenly, the crystal tent shatters and Katara watches her friends' fusion float before them, a spiraling sphere of air surrounding them. Their hair blows violently, swirling around their face that is twisted in anger and pure power. Katara shudders, but she smiles brightly—her hope is restored.

But for only a moment.

There is a flash of lightning and the body that hovers in the air twitches. There is a bright light and suddenly Aang and Ka are spiraling towards the ground, _smoking,_ and Ka's white hair looks almost _grey_ with the burning done to it.

They are lifeless. And they won't stop _falling._

Katara gasps and bends the water from her octopus-defense into a wave, rushing over to catch her friends. When she grabs onto Aang, her hand reaches out for Ka, but she falls from her grip and tumbles to the ground on her back—her eyes are wide open and her entire body is twitching with electricity.

The body in her arms is cold and lifeless. The body on the ground is quickly dying. A few moments pass. Katara starts to descend to get to her friend, her hands are shaking, and the Dai Li agents and the Fire Nation siblings are closing in on them— _look at what you've done, look, you killed them—_ and she doesn't know what to _do._

What she _doesn't_ expect is the way Ka's fingers twitch and her fists clench, and how her eyes suddenly widen to show a glowing, _angry_ orange, and how her tattoos match.

When Ka airbends herself into the air with a ferocity never before seen, Katara can see the wound on her back. It's _deep,_ and it must be painful, but Ka has suddenly been overcome with an anger and rage Katara has never seen, that distracts her so. She has seen Ka upset, she has seen Ka sad.

But _enraged?_ Not even close.

(It's terrifying.)

Ka stops the earth hands from the Dai Li agents in mid-air and clenches her fists, turning them into mere pebbles, and then shooting them back out. She lets out an anguished scream, the air sphere disappearing as she drops back to the ground, the impact of her feet sending a violent ripple through the ground that has Katara's wave of water fumbling and disappearing, and all of the agents being crushed between the rock. Ka lifts her hands up, her entire body shaking, bringing the water up around the agents and keeping it there. It isn't until Katara watches further that she realizes she intends to _drown_ them.

What terrifying power. Katara screams her name.

Ka's arms fall after a moment, but it seems a few of the Dai Li agents are already dead. The few that are left move to surround her, but Ka merely spreads her arms out and airbends them away, propelling herself back into the air. She looks over at Zuko, and he jumps back with the most terrified look Katara's ever seen. Ka has her back turned to her—she can only wonder the kind of expression she is giving Zuko.

Ka suddenly bends the air around Zuko's head, and clenches her fist. When Azula tries to run and attack her, she swipes her other hand across the air and sends a powerful wave in her direction. Katara sees her tattoos flickering. She is dying, _fast,_ and this power is taking _everything_ out of her.

She is _choking_ Zuko. She is _killing_ him.

" _KA!_ "

The orange of Ka's glow fades away, and she falls from her place in the air. Katara bends the water around her to make another wave, and this time, she catches her. Holding her friends lifeless bodies in her hands, she looks at Ka's face to see tears streaking down, and her eyes fade from violet to black.

Azula and Zuko seem to recover from the attack, though they seem a little shaken up. Pale. Looking very near _terrified._ Just before they can fight back, there's a sudden fire blast in front of them. Iroh jumps from the wall of the cave and between them.

"You've got to get out of here!" he shouts. "I'll hold them off as long as I can!"

She runs. Katara rushes to a waterfall and bends the water to lift her and her friends up to the top. Appa and the rest of the group, including the king and his bear, meet them, and Sokka's face falls upon seeing the lifeless forms of the Avatar and the Minder.

They fly away as fast as they can, and they position Aang and Ka against Appa's head. Katara removes the vial from her neck, and looks at the water inside.

She has three options: use the water on Aang, use the water on Ka, or take the chance at neither of them recovering and try to use a small amount on both.

There's no question as to what the answer is. Katara bends the water from the vial into her hands, and separates it into both of her hands. Sokka slowly turns both of them over to reveal their wounded backs. Aang's wound is much worse than Ka's, and is higher up, as well. Katara bites her lip as she starts healing them, squeezing her eyes shut.

The glowing from the spirit water suddenly stops, and nothing happens. Tears fall from Katara's face.

But then, Aang's tattoos glow white and Ka's orange. The two of them turn, and Aang smiles faintly before passing out cold again. Ka just stares up at the sky, before closing her eyes and falling limp.

Katara gathers both of them into her arms, holding them close.

* * *

"We've done it, Zuko. It's taken a hundred years, but the Fire Nation has conquered Ba Sing Se."

His sister sits on the throne. He stands beside her. It feels wrong.

"I betrayed Uncle." _And Ka._ He remembers the horrified look on her face when she realized the fireball was coming at her. He remembers her shout. He remembers her _lifeless_ face as she tumbled back down to the ground.

Most of all, he remembers her _rage,_ the way it radiated off of her, and the way she sucked the breath out of him and closed his throat.

He almost died. Maybe he deserved to.

"No," Azula says, and he had forgotten he even said anything, "he betrayed you." She stands from the throne and turns to him. "Zuko, when you return home, Father will welcome you as a war hero."

"But I don't have the Avatar or the Minder." They're dead. We killed them. "What if Father doesn't restore my honor?"

"He doesn't _need_ to, Zuko." Azula puts a hand on his shoulder. The touch burns. "Today, you restored your _own_ honor."

It sure doesn't feel like it.

(He puts a hand to his throat. It burns.)

* * *

 **oh boy. rough chapter, huh? you all thought zuko was going to suddenly go with ka. nope! i'm sticking to canon. it's a lot more fun this way.**

 **next time: the awakening, as well as the origin of the minder and its past with the avatar. fun stuff.**


	15. season three: episodes 1-2

**the events in the beginning of this chapter are somewhat based off the canonical online game "escape from the spirit world".**

 **apologies for the wait. i've been busy.**

* * *

When Ka is struck down, her mind escapes to a realm she finds far too familiar.

She is alone here—her Avatar is nowhere to be found, and neither are her tattoos. This version of the Spirit World seems different, darker. Princess Yue comes to her soon after she awakens, and tells her that she has been disconnected from her Avatar and if she does not act soon, her entire cycle will end.

She decides she must change. She must become stronger. She can never let something like this happen again.

So she wanders about, visiting the spots that seem so familiar but had never once felt like home. She feels eyes on her back everywhere she goes, and a spot near the small of her spine burns with every step she takes. She tries to soul-search for her Avatar, even going so far as exploring the outside of the swampy area of the Spirit World in order to find him.

But Aang is gone. She ruined everything when she decided to go with what her heart told her.

It is then that she decides, since she is in the Spirit World, she should attempt to contact the spirits who came before her. Slowly walking inside her father's cave, with an intense lethargy she has never once felt, she settles herself in the center of where he sits, and stares straight ahead of her in a moment of unforgiving concentration. When she meditates, and feels something exit her body and flow around her, she expects to see the beautiful Minder Divya sitting before her.

Opening her eyes, the form of an old, but strong-looking woman appears before her instead. She has never seen this woman before in her life, but something deep inside her stirs with familiarity.

" _You know who I am,_ " the old woman says.

Ka blinks slowly, and nods. This woman is a past life.

" _My name is Ino,_ " the old woman introduces, gesturing to herself, " _and I am from the Northern Water Tribe. I'm the Minder that came before you, and after Divya._ "

Her eyes widen. This is the woman she had taken the place of, taken the soul of.

"Minder Ino," she tests the name on her tongue.

The old woman smiles. " _I was hardly worthy enough to be called a Minder. I had no Avatar._ "

"You deserve the same respect."

" _I suppose,_ " Ino sighs, and then looks up at her with more serious eyes. " _Had you not pricked my soul as a child, the Minder would cease to exist. Perhaps the Avatar would not have made it this far without you having done so._ "

Ka balls her hands into fists.

" _You and your Avatar have been locked out of your shared state,_ " Ino informs, leaning forward, " _and disconnected from one another. In turn, you have lost each other, and yourselves._ "

"How do we find each other again?" Ka asks, her voice void of hope.

" _Rely on those close to you,_ " the old woman replies. " _Without love and friendship, the Minder, as well as the Avatar, will be nothing._ "

And with that, she is gone, and Ka is left alone in her father's cavern—

—well. She is not alone for long.

Suddenly, her father's form slithers in front of her, and he gives her a tiny grin. " _Well, well,_ " he murmurs. " _If you are here, rather than out there, then there must be an issue with the physical world, hm?_ "

Ka just stares. She is sure he must know anyway.

" _Wan Shi Tong's Library has returned. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?_ "

"We caused it to sink," Ka answers, her voice flat. If it were not for their interference, it would still be standing in the physical world.

Koh the Face Stealer hums to himself, and turns away. " _I recall there being a certain story in that library—one that may pertain to you._ "

She freezes. _He is just trying to rile you up. Do not give in. Do not give in._

" _A woman, I believe... who had come to me so many years ago. She was quite beautiful, so I had quickly added her face to my collection..._ " He speaks of this as if it were some fond memory. To him, it most likely _was_. He then turns to her, his expression looking almost mockingly curious. " _You are my child. I created you. Do you know out of what?_ "

(Do not give in.)

Her chest is getting tight and her throat feels like someone has caught it on fire. She cannot breathe, and she can do nothing but stare.

(Do not give in.)

Then her father switches to the blue demon face, and his sneer is so wide it could rip his cheeks apart. " _Of course you know. Nothing you are made of has ever been yours._ "

It is the truth, but the truth hurts, because she is made of things that belong to other people when she was never meant to be created in the first place.

She feels like crying, but if she does right here, right now, it is all over and the face that her father took will be his once more. So she closes her eyes, and takes a deep breath.

When she opens them, she is laying on a cot, staring up at a metal ceiling. The small of her back sears in pain.

* * *

She discovers that while she and her Avatar had been useless in their physical forms, their friends had taken over a Fire Nation ship and were using it as their disguise. They are heading west, and continuously working on the improvised invasion plan.

Katara attempts to try and use her healing on her back a few times, but soon enough, Ka tells her to stop trying altogether. Being around so many people is suffocating, and standing alone in a room with a single person is even more so. She sits alone in her room most days, meditating and awaiting the day her Avatar wakes.

A few days after she wakes, so does Aang.

* * *

"Aren't you cold?"

Mai's sudden voice breaks him out of his trance, and he looks away from the moon for a moment before frowning and looking back out at the horizon.

"I've got a lot on my mind," he blurts, clenching his fists. "It's been so long, over three years since I was home. I wonder what's changed. I wonder how _I've_ changed."

Mai just yawns. "I just asked if you were cold, I didn't ask for your whole life story." Zuko resists the urge to click his tongue. _That's not the right answer,_ he wants to say. _You're supposed to comfort me, and offer me some spiritual advice._ Except that's not Mai. The girl standing next to him only giggles and holds his face in her hands. "Stop worrying."

When they kiss, it's comforting but all wrong. She smiles at him again before leaving, and Zuko's grip on the railing of the ship is so tight he feels as if he may break it.

After another few minutes of silence, he actually starts to feel cold, so he turns on his heel and begins to walk back into his cabin. Except a certain sight stops him in place, and all the air rushes out of his lungs.

Ka, sitting in the middle of the ship, in a Fire Nation robe, all curled up and looking down at the ground. Her hair is a mess and the grip she has on the robe is loose and lethargic. She looks tired.

Except this can't be real. Because Zuko knows what he saw, what he's done, and what he's caused.

He ignores it, and goes to bed.

* * *

Ka's head shoots up when she feels eyes on her, and turns around, only to see nothing. Frowning, she just silently removes the robe from her body and wraps it around her Avatar's shoulders.

"Don't you need this more than me?" Aang asks, but Ka shakes her head once, and looks back at her lap. Her Avatar frowns, but he drops it, and then looks towards Katara, who sits across from him. "Why are we on a Fire Nation ship? Why is everyone dressed this way? And why am _I_ the only one who's completely out of it?"

 _You are not the only one,_ Ka wants to say, but finds the words are much harder to voice than before.

"You need to take it easy, okay?" Katara says, reaching over to pat her friend's knee. "You both do. You both got hurt pretty bad." Aang slowly puts a hand over the bandages that cover most of his upper body. Katara then smiles, as if trying to lighten the mood. "I like your hair."

Aang's eyes go wide in shock. "I have hair?" he questions, rubbing his hands all along his no longer bald head. His hair is fuzzy and brown in color. "How long was I out?"

"A few weeks. Ka woke up a few days before you."

"Everything okay?" a man's voice comes, and Katara's father—Ka had met him an hour or so after waking up herself—walks up, looking concerned.

Katara looks away, crossing her arms. "We're fine, Dad."

"I'm Hakoda," he introduces, looking towards Aang, "Katara and Sokka's father."

He reaches out his hand, and Aang moves to shake it, but before he can, Katara puts her hands on Aang's shoulders and pushes him back to prevent him from doing so.

"He knows who you are. I just called you _Dad,_ didn't I?"

Hakoda is quiet for a moment. "I guess you're right."

Aang removes himself from Katara's grip and reaches over to shake her father's hand. "Nice to officially meet you, Chief Hakoda."

"It's an honor to meet you."

"Great, great," Katara snaps, "so now you guys have finally met. So would you mind giving us a little privacy?"

"... Of course." And so he leaves. Ka frowns.

Aang looks over towards his friend. "Are you mad at your dad or something?"

Katara had been watching her father leave with an annoyed expression, but at Aang's question, she turns to him with a confused look. "What? Not at all. Why would you say that?"

Aang shrugs and moves to say _I don't know,_ but he suddenly grips his side and gasps in pain.

"Maybe we should go upstairs," Katara suggests, standing and helping Aang up to his feet. "You need a healing session."

They begin to walk away, but then notice Ka is not following.

"You coming?" Katara calls, and Aang watches her expectantly. Ka does not turn, nor does she acknowledge them, and she can feel Aang's disappointed eyes when they murmur something to each other and go inside.

She should leave them alone. She cannot hover, not anymore.

* * *

"Your Princess Azula, clever and beautiful, disguised herself as the enemy and entered the Earth Kingdom's Capital. In Ba Sing Se, she found her brother Zuko, and together they faced the Avatar and his Minder..."

"And the Avatar fell! And the Minder fell! And the Earth Kingdom fell!"

"Azula's agents quickly overtook the _entire_ city. They went to Ba Sing Se's great walls..."

"And brought them _down!_ "

"The armies of the Fire Nation surged through the walls and swarmed over Ba Sing Se, securing our victory..."

"Now the heroes have returned home!"

"Your princess, Azula..."

"And after three long years, your prince has returned..."

" _Zuko!_ "

* * *

Aang learns of how they survived their attack, and now it is time to learn the rest of the story.

Sokka sits on a crate in front of the others, holding a map before them, pointing at different areas as he speaks. "After what happened at Ba Sing Se, we had to get you to safety. We flew back to Chameleon Bay where we found my father and the other Water Tribe men. The Earth King decided he wanted to travel the world in disguise, so he set off alone. Well, not completely alone. Soon, the bay was overrun by Fire Nation ships. Rather than fight them all, we captured a single ship and made it our disguise. Since then we've been traveling west. We crossed through the Serpent's Pass a few days ago. We've seen a few Fire Nation ships, but none have bothered us."

Aang blinks. "So what now?"

"We've been working on a modified version of the invasion plan," Hakoda answers.

"It's _Sokka's_ invasion plan," Katara breaks in, matter-of-factly.

Hakoda stares at his daughter oddly. "Yes... Sokka's plan," he says slowly. "We won't be able to mount a massive invasion without the Earth King's armies, but the solar eclipse will still leave the Fire Nation vulnerable."

"So we're planning a smaller invasion!" Sokka says, smiling. "Just a ragtag team of our friends and allies from around the Earth Kingdom. We already ran into Pipsqueak and The Duke."

Said boys are eating noodles, The Duke on Pipsqueak's shoulder. "Good to see you two again!"

Aang waves. Ka nods.

"And the best part is, the eclipse isn't even our biggest advantage!" Sokka continues, and leans forward, his voice in a whisper, "We have a secret—" he shifts his eyes side to side, "—you!"

Aang's eyes go wide. " _Me?_ "

"The both of you actually," Sokka says, his face in a wide grin, and then he throws his arms in the air. "The whole world thinks you're dead! Isn't that great?"

Aang is silent for a moment. Ka's hands ball into fists at her sides, and she keeps her gaze turned downward.

"The world thinks we're _dead?_ " he repeats incredulously. " _How_ is that good news? That's terrible!"

"No, it's great!" Sokka counters. "It means the Fire Nation won't be hunting us anymore! And even better, they won't be expecting you on the Day of Black Sun!"

 _He has a point,_ Ka decides. Aang does not share her sentiment.

"No, no, no, no, no—you have _no_ idea. This is _so_ messed up!"

Suddenly, the shadow of another ship engulfs them, and Aang turns to face it with a gaze of pure determination.

"We'll handle this," he says, and it takes Ka a moment to realize he is referring to her as well. "The Avatar and the Minder are back!" He snaps his glider open, but the motion makes him falter and grunt in pain.

Katara quickly runs up to him. "Aang, wait! They don't know we're not Fire Nation!"

Aang looks at her hesitantly. Ka rises to her feet and puts a hand over the one Aang holds his staff with, lowering it. He looks down and closes his glider.

"Everyone just stay calm," Hakoda says, sliding on his helmet. "Bato and I will take care of this."

The others cover Appa and Momo with a tarp while Aang, Ka, Toph, Sokka, and Katara rush to hide in a square hole, able to see what is going on but not being seen.

"I hate not being able to do anything," Aang complains.

"Hopefully, you won't need to!" Toph says.

As much as they try to send the Fire Nation captain away, in the end, their cover is blown, and they have to sink the guards into the water and depart away in a cloud of steam and water.

It is all very dramatic.

* * *

Feeding the turtleducks is not as exciting as he remembered. Perhaps the absence of a motherly figure beside him can attest to that.

"You seem so downcast," says his sister when she walks up. "Has Mai gotten to you already?" Then she hums and taps her chin thoughtfully. "Though actually, Mai has been in a strangely good mood lately."

"I haven't seen Dad yet. I haven't seen him in three years, since I was banished."

"So what?"

" _So,_ I didn't capture the Avatar, _or_ the Minder." Of course she wouldn't understand.

"Who cares?" Azula scoffs. "The Avatar and his Minder are dead." When he looks way, she raises her eyebrows. "Unless you think they somehow miraculously survived."

Zuko thinks of the strange vial Katara had carried in the crystal prison. She said it had healing abilities. _Could it be?_

(For a moment he thinks of seeing Ka sitting on the ship. He quickly shakes those thoughts away.)

"No," he finally answers, the word feeling strange on his tongue. "There's no way they could have survived."

They stare at each other for a long moment, although it's more like glaring. Zuko has a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach when Azula shrugs, says _Well, then I'm sure you have nothing to worry about_ and leaves with a flip of her hair.

(She must know. Somehow. Azula always knows.)

* * *

Another ship attacks them. Once they get away from that ship, the serpent from the Serpent's Pass appears. Luck does not seem to be on their side today.

That is, until luck seems to have a change of heart, and moves its focus on the attacking ship once its hit with a fireball.

So, battle won, they stop at a port near a seaside town. Katara somehow manages to coax Ka out of her room and they all walk towards Aang's.

"Hey, Aang!" Toph greets. "We're going into town to find some dinner."

Aang clutches his stomach when a bout of grumbling rolls in. "Well, I am pretty hungry. Maybe dinner's a good idea."

Sokka pulls something out of his pocket. "Here," he says, holding out a bandanna, "tie this around your head. It'll cover your arrow."

Aang reels back, horrified. "I'm not going out if I can't wear my arrow proudly!" He promptly lies back down.

"Aang, come on. Be practical."

Katara steps forward and puts a hand on her brother's shoulder. "You guys go ahead without us. We'll catch up to you." The others leave, and Ka walks inside to lean against the wall as Katara moves to sit next to him on the bed. "I think I understand why being a secret bothers you so much. You don't want people to think you failed."

"You're right," Aang snaps. "I don't. But the problem is, I did fail!"

"Aang, that's not true."

He pointedly gets up, his fists clenching. "It _is_ true. I was in Ba Sing Se. I was _there!_ But I lost. And now the Earth Kingdom is fallen for good."

"It's not for good." Katara stands. "Remember, there's still a plan. The invasion!"

"And I hate the invasion plan too!" Aang angrily rips down the Fire Nation flag from the wall. "I don't want you or anyone else risking your lives to fix _my_ mistakes! I've always known that I would have to face the Fire Lord. But now I know I need to do it alone."

"... Aang—"

"Katara, please! Just go. Please."

Said girl sighs sadly and moves to the door. "Is there anything you need?"

Aang clenches his fists, his back turned to both of them. "I need to redeem myself. I need my honor back."

When Katara leaves and the door is shut, Aang breathes in and out for a few moments before slowly turning his head to look at Ka.

"You haven't said a word since I've woken up," he accuses. "You leave to be alone every chance you have, and it's like you dread being around us. It's like the beginning again! What happened?"

"You _know_ what happened," Ka hisses. "I was _foolish._ I trusted my heart to someone I should not have."

"That wasn't your fault."

"Was it not?" Ka snaps. "Ever since we were struck down I have been filled with an anger and guilt I cannot control." She swallows thickly and gestures to herself. "We _both_ failed. You are not alone."

Aang is quiet for a moment. "We could've done more."

"You could've done more," Ka then says. "Without me."

"Don't talk like that."

"It is true," Ka says, clenching her fists at her sides, trying to ease their trembling. "I am nothing. I have sat around our entire journey doing nothing. I am useless. All I have done is ruined everything."

"You've helped all of us more than you know," Aang says, sounding angry.

Ka crosses her arms and turns away from him. "Then what now?"

Silence. But only for a few moments. "We have to leave."

"What?"

"We can't stay hidden from the world," Aang says, taking a few steps closer to her. "We can't show them that we lost."

"It is the best plan," Ka tries, but her words fall on deaf ears when Aang only takes her by the wrist and drags her out to the deck.

He unfurls his glider, standing by the edge of the ship, and gives her an expectant look. Ka looks from him to the glider with a sad look, and sighs as she slowly climbs on top of it. Aang takes off, and they leave the ship behind.

* * *

His father's chambers are darker and much more suffocating than he remembers. When he steps inside, the flames that surround the entire room burns him from the inside out, and he swallows thickly as he steps forward, looking towards the ground as he bows down before the man on the throne.

"You've been away for a long time," says his father. "I see the weight of your travels has changed you." Zuko clenches his fists against the ground. _He has no idea._ His father rises from his throne and steps before him. "You have redeemed yourself, my son." Despite the fear crawling up his throat, Zuko looks up to face his father. "Welcome home."

His father's face is unreadable. Zuko resists the urge to look away, but his eyes catch a flash of white, and he glances to the side to see, behind the flames beside the throne, Ka, arguing with something to her side. He can't hear her words, nor can she see him, apparently, but she looks as real as ever, and Zuko's form straightens a little.

His father furrows his eyebrows and follows his gaze, but he only turns back to his son. Can he not see her? Is he hallucinating?

The Fire Lord returns to his original speech, pacing back and forth around him.

"I am proud of you, Prince Zuko," he starts, and Zuko had forgotten what it was like to be thought of as a prince once more (Ka had always referred to him as such, and he made her stop). "I am proud because you and your sister conquered Ba Sing Se. I am proud because when your loyalty was tested by your treacherous uncle, you did the right thing and captured the traitor. And I am proudest of all of your most legendary accomplishment: you slayed the Avatar, and his useless _pet._ "

Zuko flinches, his eyes going wide. "What did you hear?" None of that was his doing. Azula struck them while they were—combined?—and they both died.

(Or _did_ they? Zuko glances back towards where the figure of Ka was—she's gone, just as quickly as she appeared.)

"Azula told me everything," the Fire Lord replies. "She said she was amazed and impressed at your power and ferocity at the moment of truth."

 _Azula always lies. Azula always lies._

He looks down, and doesn't say a word.

* * *

Aang has trouble flying with his injury, and even more so with Ka's added weight. When they come across a Fire Nation blockade, they swim underwater in a surge of power to pass it.

They do their best to continue across the ocean, but a storm rolls in. Everything is too much. Too much wind and water everywhere. They tumble into the ocean and under the waves and Aang's staff disappears.

( _Maybe it was meant to be this way,_ Ka thinks, as she watches Aang fumble. Surely her Avatar would be capable enough without her.)

* * *

Azula always lies.

Zuko storms into her chambers, glaring down at her sleeping form. "Why'd you do it?" he demands, because he knows his sister really isn't asleep.

She smiles, her eyes closed as she lays against her pillow. "You're going to have to be a little more specific."

"Why did you tell Father that I was the one who killed the Avatar and the Minder?"

"Can't this wait until the morning?"

" _It. Can't._ "

Azula sighs and sits up, stretching her arms above her head. "Fine," she says shortly. "You seemed so worried about how Father would treat you because you hadn't captured the Avatar or his pet. I figured if I gave you the credit, you'd have nothing to worry about."

If his sister were any other person, he'd be grateful. But this is Azula. "But why?"

His sister slides out of her bed, smirking. "Call it a _generous_ gesture. I wanted to thank you for your help and I was happy to share the glory."

Azula is never happy. And she never shares. "You're lying," he accuses.

She only shrugs and starts to walk past him. "If you say so..."

"You have another motive for doing this," Zuko says, turning, "I just haven't figured out what it is."

"Please Zuko, what ulterior motive could I have? What could I _possibly_ gain by letting _you_ get all the glory for defeating the Avatar and his Minder?" She taps her chin with a sneer and leans into him to whisper into his ear. "Unless, somehow, the Avatar and his Minder were actually _alive._ All that glory would suddenly turn to shame and foolishness." She climbs back into her bed and lays back down. "But you said it yourself, that was impossible."

He grits his teeth. Of course. He's fallen right into her trap.

He leaves. He has work to do.

"Sleep well, Zuzu."

* * *

The storm gets rougher. A piece of floating tree bark comes across them, and they both scramble to grab onto it. Waves crash over them and send them reeling underwater for brief moments. The rain falls so hard it hurts on their skin. Lightning blinds them every which moment.

"We're not gonna make it," Aang whispers, his voice strained. "We failed."

Lightning strikes again. Within it, the spirits of Avatar Roku and Minder Divya. The two gasp and look up.

" _You haven't failed,_ " they say in unison.

"But everyone thinks we're dead again," Aang pleads.

"They believe we have abandoned them, and we are losing. We have let everyone down," Ka continues, looking down into the water.

" _If anyone is to blame for the state of the world—_ "

" _—it is us. We should have seen this war coming and prevented it._ "

" _You inherited our problems and our mistakes._ "

" _But I believe you two are destined to redeem us and save the world._ "

Aang and Ka look at each other and then back up at their past lives. "I don't know..."

Their spirits are replaced by bright moonlight, and Princess Yue emerges from above. " _You already saved the world,_ " she says, her voice echoing, " _and you'll save the world again, but you can't give up._ "

The storm disappears, and Yue only gets closer. Aang and Ka are suddenly filled with a newfound strength, and Ka clenches her fists.

(If she has already ruined everything, then there is nowhere to go but up. She thinks of Minder Ino's words. She cannot give up now. Not when she still has to make everything right.)

"You're right," Aang says.

"We will not give up," Ka affirms.

They create a giant wave and surf on it with the tree bark. Princess Yue floats behind them, raising her hands to help with the wave. She disappears back into the moon, and Ka watches her go.

Eventually, they wash up at the base of a volcano, and when Ka touches the ash underneath them, she realizes that underneath it lies the ruins of Avatar Roku's temple. Momo comes rushing towards them, licking Aang's face and waking him up. Their friends rush towards them, crying, and engulf them into a giant group hug.

"You're okay!" Katara exclaims, holding them tight.

"We have so much to do..." Aang and Ka murmur.

"I know," Katara agrees, "but you'll have our help."

"You didn't think you could get out of training just by coming to the Fire Nation, did you?" Toph jokes, grinning.

"What about the invasion?" Aang asks.

"We'll join up with my dad and the invasion force the day of the eclipse," Sokka explains.

An object washes ashore. It hits Toph's foot, and she leans down, "Hey, what's—oh. It's... your glider." She sheepishly hands the ruined glider over towards Aang, and he stares down at it with an emotion Ka cannot recognize.

"It's okay," he then says. "If someone saw it, it would give away my identity. It's better for now that no one knows I'm alive." He looks at Ka. "Either of us."

She nods, and watches as her Avatar jumps up towards the flowing lava, twirling his staff in his hands before firmly slamming it into the ground. He watches it catch fire, and then jumps onto his bison's back, not looking back as it is destroyed and turned to nothing but ash.

(Before they leave the island behind, Ka looks back while they are flying. She sees a familiar figure sitting on the edge of the shore, an all too terrifying scar on the figure's face. It is gone as soon as it appears.)

* * *

They decide on getting disguises. As in, Fire Nation clothing.

They come across a Fire Nation home, which has quite a few articles of clothing hanging on lines outside. The man they belong to is sleeping on the porch, oblivious to their theft.

Ka's outfit is quite similar to Aang's—nearly identical, truly—but instead of boots she wears slippers and her pants cut off around her knees. She finds a headband that matches the one Aang ties around his forehead, and uses it to tie it just behind her bangs, hiding her eyes more effectively.

"Ta-da!" Aang exclaims, whirling around to present himself. "Normal kid."

Ka looks at him. "We look the same."

"You have white hair."

"True."

Toph looks down at her feet. "Hm... I should probably wear shoes, but then I won't be able to see as well." She sits down, and pulls on the shoes so hard that the soles fly off, slapping Sokka in the face. "Sorry, shoes! Finally, a stylish shoe for the blind earthbender."

Katara walks forward, her hands clasped in front of her almost shyly. "How do I look?"

She wears a crop top and a long skirt, and her hair out of its braid and left long down her back. Aang blushes and scratches his head, seemingly at a loss for words.

Ka blinks, and points at her neck. "Your mother's necklace."

"Oh." Katara gently touches the necklace with a frown. "Oh, yeah, I guess it's pretty obviously Water Tribe, isn't it?" She takes off the necklace and holds it in her hand sadly.

"Okay, Ka, we need to do something about your hair," Sokka says, stepping closer. "Who else in the world has white hair? We should—I dunno—shave it off."

"No," Ka replies firmly.

"I read in a book in the library that there's flowers that can dye hair!" Aang exclaims, jumping in the air. He runs out of view so fast, shouting an I'll be right back! and comes back a few moments later holding a handful of black flowers, grinning. "Let's use these!"

Ka shrugs, and takes the flowers in her hands, crushing them up and spreading the color all around her hair until it is nothing but black. Her sleeves are long enough to hide her tattoos—and now, the only odd thing about her is her eyes.

(The woman from legend had black hair. Ka silently apologizes to her spirit for everything.)

"Wow, you're barely recognizable," Sokka says, crossing his arms and nodding.

Ka wordlessly points to her eyes, raising her eyebrows.

"Just pretend it's a medical condition." Sokka waves her off. "C'mon, let's go find some food." When he tries to grab Ka's arm to lead her away, she roughly shoves him away and trails after her Avatar. She has not forgotten when he had called her a pet, and she never will.

* * *

They find a Fire Nation city, large in size and population. The first place they stop at is a store—Katara purchases a Fire Nation necklace to make up for the loss of her mother's, Toph a crown, and Sokka a top-knot. Ka debates on buying something of her own, but she decides against it, and watches with a odd curiosity as Aang pats down Momo's ears and sheepishly hides him in his shirt.

"That is not a good hiding spot," she deadpans, and follows him when he starts to lead them across the town.

"I used to visit my friend Kuzon here a hundred years ago," he says happily. "So, everyone just follow my lead and stay cool. Or, as they say in the Fire Nation, stay flamin'!" He does a mock salute, and Ka frowns—she is sure she has _never_ heard anyone Fire Nation say that. Aang struts around the corner and grins at a man eating meat on a stick, "Greetings, my good hotman."

"Uh, hi... I guess."

They pass by the man and come across a small tavern. "Oh, we're going to a meat place?"

"Come on, Aang, everyone here eats meat!" Sokka says, and gestures to a hippo cow chomping down on a pile of meat, swarming with flies and bugs. "Even the meat!"

Aang grimaces. "You guys go ahead," he urges. "I'll just get some lettuce out of the garbage." He waves at Katara as she walks inside, and then turns to look at Ka with raised eyebrows. "You aren't going with them?"

"I do not wish to be around Sokka right now," Ka answers, mumbled under her breath.

"Huh? Why—oh." Aang scratches at the back of his head. "Y'know, I'm sure he didn't mean it."

"He still said it," Ka says firmly, and the conversation ends there.

Aang starts to greet random people on the street as they walk by, happily referring to each of them as _Hotman._ Ka just rolls her eyes—he will end up getting them caught one way or another.

"It's over. We caught you."

Ka scoffs. She called it. Looking over, she sees three soldiers approaching the two of them, and narrows her eyes.

"Who, me?" Aang asks guiltily, folding his hands behind his back and leaning back a little.

"It couldn't be more obvious that you don't belong here," says the male soldier, glaring at the both of them. "Next time you two play hooky, you might wanna take off your school uniform."

Ka looks down at their identical clothing, and Aang laughs nervously, but that laugh quickly turns into a yelp when the soldiers grab onto both of them and lead them away.

* * *

The three soldiers split into two and they take the two of them to a fancy school on the side of a cliff. They are shoved into a classroom, and all the students already inside stare at them in confusion and awe.

The teacher frowns when she sees them, her arms folded across her chest. "Oh," she drawls, unimpressed, "are these new minds ready for molding?"

"Uh," Aang says, "that's right!" He knocks on the side of his head. "Let the molding begin."

The two guards turn to leave, and the teacher narrows her eyes suspiciously. "Wait a minute," she says, causing the guards to halt in place. "You two aren't from the Fire Nation!" She circles the two of them, and her gaze burns. "Clearly you're from the _colonies._ "

"Yeah," Aang agrees quickly, "the... colonies, of course. The Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom."

The two guards finally walk out. Ka exhales slowly.

"Your etiquette is terrible," the teacher scolds. "In the homeland, we bow to our elders." She walks in front of her desk and bows, her fist pressing against the palm of her other hand. "Like so."

Ka eyes her form and copies it. Aang does as well, but his hands are the wrong way. The teacher taps his hands with her stick to correct him. A girl sitting in the front row clears her throat to grab his attention, and shows him the correct way. Aang nods and fixes his mistake.

The teacher hums. "And we don't wear head coverings indoors," she says, gesturing to each of their headbands.

"Um, I have a scar," Aang says, scratching the back of his head. "It's really embarrassing."

The teacher eyes Ka for her explanation. She reaches up towards the headband that is tied behind her head and says, "My mother used to wear her hair like this, before she passed." It is a lame excuse, but it works, for a few girls in the classroom sigh in reply.

The teacher seems to accept it. "Very well," she says. "What are your names? Or, should we just call you _Mannerless Colony Slob?_ "

Aang chuckles. "Just _slob_ is fine," he jokes, but then turns to the class. "Or, uh, Kuzon."

Ka thinks for a moment. "Kazuki," she says in a quiet voice, eyeing the teacher and then the students before her. She is much taller and most likely much older than any of them—she wonders if she will be able to fit in without getting caught, or pass off as _Kuzon's_ relative.

* * *

It works. They make it through the day, and Ka finds herself very informed.

When the bell rings, they walk out of school. Somehow, Aang has managed to keep Momo in his shirt all day. He stretches his arms above his head as Momo peeks out. "We made it through the day, guys, and it was pretty fun!" Ka is obliged to agree.

"Don't let the headmaster catch you with that monkey."

They whirl around to see the girl from before, smiling at them.

Aang quickly turns around and shoves Momo into his shirt, before turning to her and smiling innocently. "What monkey?"

"Don't worry, I'm not a tattletale," the girl assures, and gestures to herself. "My name's On Ji. I like your headbands, by the way."

Another kid walks past them, shoving his shoulder into Aang as he does. He drapes an arm around On Ji's shoulders. "On Ji, you don't have to babysit the new kid."

"Wow," Aang says, amazed, and bows, of all things. "You must be one of those popular kids I've been hearing about."

"That's right," the kid says, smirking, and takes a step forward. "Now listen, _friend,_ I know you're from the colonies, so I'll say this _slowly_. On Ji is my girlfriend." He roughly pokes Aang's chest. "Don't forget it." In response, Momo shuffles around in Aang's shirt, and the latter smiles sheepishly as he pushes him back in.

The kid turns to Ka, as if to tell her off too, but her gaze is hard and her form is tall and angry. He falters once he looks up at her, and she sees fear fill his gaze when he looks into her eyes. Playing it off, he quickly turns around and leads On Ji away, "Freak."

Aang waves as they leave. "It was nice meeting you!"

Ka just crosses her arms.

Another kid runs up to them, amazed. "I don't believe it, he didn't beat you up. Not even a little!"

"I guess I'm just lucky," says Aang, ever the optimist, shrugging his shoulders.

The kid laughs and looks at Ka. "I think it had a little to do with your scary sister," he says, and Ka tilts her head. The kid points behind him with his thumb to a larger group of kids. "We were just on our way to play hide and explode. You two wanna come?"

Aang grins in Ka's direction, and she cannot deny him anything. "I'd love to!" Aang exclaims.

"Sure," Ka says, and follows them when they begin to run off into the fields.

* * *

Making their way back to the cave, Ka brushes the soot off her body. When they walk in, Katara jumps to her feet with a worried look.

"Where have you been?" she demands. "We've been worried sick!"

Aang moves to untie his headband. "We got invited to play with some kids after school."

Sokka springs to his feet and all but shrieks, "After _what!?_ "

Ka raises her eyebrows, amused. "We enrolled in a Fire Nation school," she muses coolly.

"And we're going back tomorrow!" Aang exclaims happily.

Sokka just stares. "Enrolled in _what!?_ " He falls backwards in disbelief, and Ka does not even pay him any attention.

* * *

This time, he doesn't turn back when he makes it to the prison. After making sure the guard on watch won't tell a soul, he enters his uncle's cell and approaches.

"Uncle, it's me."

Uncle just scowls and turns away. Zuko clenches his fists. This is going to be harder than he thought.

 _Why am I here?_

* * *

"You know, I'm trying to be mature and not immediately shoot down your idea, but..." Sokka starts, as they sit around the fire, "it sounds... really terrible."

"Yeah, we got our outfits," Toph agrees. "What do you need to go to _school_ for?"

"Every minute we're in that classroom, we're learning new things about the Fire Nation!" Aang argues. "I already have a picture of Fire Lord Ozai." He holds up the large picture, and then pulls out the one they had made earlier today. "And here's one that I made out of noodles!"

Ka pulls out her own creation. She is quite proud of it.

"Aren't you a lot older than the rest of the kids?" Katara asks her. Ka just gives her a one-shouldered shrug.

"Impressive, I admit," Sokka says after a moment of admiring their noodle creations, "but I still think it's too dangerous."

Aang and Ka share a look, and the former smirks.

"I guess we'll never find out about the secret river then," he sighs dreamily. "It goes _right_ to the Fire Lord's palace. We were _supposed_ to learn about it in class tomorrow..."

That gets Sokka to reconsider. "Hmm... I _am_ a fan of secret rivers." He closes his eyes and groans. "Fine, let's stay for a few more days."

Aang jumps to his feet. "Flamey-o, hotman!" he shouts, and runs off.

Ka just watches him leave. Sokka looks at Katara and repeats, " _Flamey-o?_ "

* * *

"You brought this on yourself, you know."

Zuko thinks of his time back on his ship, searching for the Avatar and the Minder. How Uncle was always by his side. What a mess this has turned into.

"We could have returned together," he continues. "You could have been a hero!" Uncle shifts but doesn't turn to look at him. Zuko grits his teeth. "You have no right to judge me. Uncle, I did what I had to in Ba Sing Se, and you're a fool for not joining me." More silence. "You're not going to say anything?"

When the silence becomes too much to bear, Zuko kicks up a small stool and destroys it with fire, shouting, "You're a crazy old man! You're crazy! And if you weren't in jail, you'd be sleeping in a gutter!"

He turns and leaves. His heart feels heavy.

* * *

The next day at school does not go so well.

They fumble the Fire Nation oath, are given a pop quiz, and Aang ends up spilling about the Air Nomads and their role in the war. The entire class stares at them like they are crazy, and the teacher scolds them.

In music class, Aang embarrasses himself by dancing in the middle of their playing. Ka stares at her instrument oddly. She has never played one before. Aang looks and feels very sad during all this— _does the Fire Nation not dance?_ she can hear him thinking.

During their free period, the two of them wander around the courtyard. On Ji catches up with them, and waves to them when they turn.

"Uh, hey, Kuzon, I really liked that crazy dance you were doing," she says a bit shyly, and then nods at Ka, "Hey, Kazuki."

"Thanks, On Ji!" Aang says happily. "I could show it to you again if you like." Suddenly, a blast of fire hits the ground at his feet and he stumbles backwards.

The kid from before— _Hide,_ Ka has learned his name is—growls at him, his fists smoking from his attack. "What'd you say, colony trash? You gonna show her something?"

Aang backs up nervously. "Just some dance movements."

"Nobody shows my On Ji anything!" Hide declares. " _Especially_ movements!"

He jumps forward to punch him, but Aang steps out of the way and Ka takes his place. She grabs onto his wrist and jabs her elbow into his chest, pushing him backwards. He stares at her in shock before it quickly turns to anger, and he rushes towards her with another flaming punch. Ka ducks to avoid it, and watches as he stumbles. He then goes for Aang again, and he slides behind his back and moves with him to match his movements, rendering him incapable of hitting him. Hide whirls around and moves to punch him again, but Ka grabs onto his fist as Aang slips away, and twists it, causing him to cry out in pain and falter. Ka takes the chance to slide downwards and sweep her legs underneath his form, knocking him to the ground.

The headmaster runs forward, as Hide sniffles and rises to his knees.

"Picking fights on your second day?" he demands, pointing at them accusingly. "We need to have a conference to discuss your punishment. Bring your parents to my office after school."

Aang's eyes widen. " _Parents?_ But—"

"Don't be late!"

The headmaster stomps off and Hide smirks behind his back when they walk away. Aang and Ka look at each other worriedly.

"Did you have to go that far?" Aang sighs.

Ka frowns. "I do not like him."

"I can tell."

* * *

"Thank you for coming, Mr. and Mrs..." The headmaster narrows his eyes.

"Fire," Sokka replies in a dramatic voice, stroking the fake beard on his face. "Wang Fire." He points to Katara, who sits in the chair, her arms over her fake pregnant belly. "This is my wife, Sapphire."

"Sapphire Fire," Katara says with a smile. "Nice to meet you."

"Mr. and Mrs... Fire." The headmaster sighs. "Your son and daughter have been enrolled here for two days and they're already causing problems. Your son argued with his history teacher, disrupted music class, and your daughter roughed up my star pupil!"

"My goodness!" Katara gasps, putting a hand to her mouth. "That doesn't sound like our Kuzon and Kazuki."

"That's what any mother would say, ma'am," the headmaster says. "Nonetheless, you're forewarned; if they act up one more time, I'll have them sent to reform school." He stands up and looms over them. "By which I mean the _coal mines._ Are we clear?"

Ka looks away.

Sokka straightens in his seat. "Don't you worry, Mr. Headmaster! I'll straighten these kids out somethin' fierce!" He whirls around to them and screams, "You two, as soon as we get home you're gonna get the punishment of a lifetime!"

Yikes.

"That's what I like to hear," the headmaster muses, slipping back into his seat.

* * *

When they are walking back towards the cave, Sokka still continues to be as dramatic as ever, stroking his beard and strutting, his knees pointed high.

Ka trails behind the others, looking down at her hands. She regrets fighting back against that boy, but she supposes there is nothing she can do about it now. The light from the sunset gives her skin a strange lighting, and she looks over with a grimace when it blinds her, raising an arm to shield her eyes, but when she turns she sees something completely different.

Suddenly, she is on a cliffside, watching Prince Zuko and one of Princess Azula's friends sitting close together, watching the sunset. Mai, Ka thinks her name is, sighs and leans in closer towards the prince.

"Orange is such an awful color," she says, looking straight ahead. She does not seem to notice Ka is there. Ka is taken aback—is she dreaming? Hallucinating?

Zuko snickers. "You're so beautiful when you hate the world." Ka is suddenly filled with an intense rage at the sound of his voice. She clenches her fists.

"I don't hate you," Mai then says, turning.

"I don't hate you too." Zuko leans in and they kiss.

Ka turns away, and sees the dark rocky cliff their cave resides on. She blinks in shock, and looks at where her friends soon disappear in the distance, and then turns back around to see the same sunny cliffside, where Zuko has now pulled away and is scowling at his sister. Ka looks over her shoulder to see the sun residing over the ocean, and runs a hand through her hair. _Just what is going on?_

"Zuko, could I have a word with you?"

"Can't you see we're busy?" Zuko scoffs, and kisses Mai again.

Princess Azula sighs. "Oh, Mai, Ty Lee needs your help untangling her braid."

Mai stands and clasps her hands together. "Sounds pretty serious," she says in her usual bored tone, but when she walks past Princess Azula she casts an angry glare at her behind her back.

"So, I've heard you've been to visit your uncle fatso in the prison tower," Zuko's sister says when Mai leaves.

Zuko jumps to his feet angrily. "That guard told you."

Iroh is in prison? Ka is suddenly overwhelmed with guilt. Katara had told her how he bought them time so they could escape, after she was struck down and they were both killed.

"No. You did," Princess Azula replies, smirking. "Just now."

Zuko groans and sits back down, looking down at the ground. "Okay, you caught me. What is it that you want, Azula?"

"Actually, nothing," and her voice sounds like a lie. "Believe it or not, I'm looking out for you. If people find out you've been to see Uncle, they'll think you're plotting with him. Just be careful, Dum-Dum." She eyes him carefully before she turns and leaves, leaving Zuko alone on that cliffside.

Well, not completely alone.

Ka shifts in her stance. Her movement causes her foot to scrape against one of the rocks. The sound makes Zuko look up, and his eyes widen once he sees her standing there. Jumping to his feet, he looks at her as if she were a ghost, and then tilts his head, looking underneath her bangs at her eyes.

"Ka?" he asks, and _oh._ He can see her. "I thought you were dead. How are you—"

"I _was,_ " she interrupts harshly, and all the anger that has been bottled up inside her suddenly comes spilling out.

"What—" Zuko starts, but stops in place. "The spirit water..."

Ka frowns. How does he know? She decides to ponder over that later, and turns her back to him, looking over the side of the cliff. She has no idea how to get back.

"How are you here?"

Ka ignores him. She wonders what would happen if she were to jump.

"I've seen you before," he suddenly says, and she turns. "Your—your hair was still white, but. Two times. You didn't see me. Is... is this some _spirit_ thing?"

She cannot answer that. Pursing her lips, she puts her hands on her hips and glares at him with all her might. "Iroh is in prison and you are no longer the banished prince," she says slowly. "I wonder who else you have hurt to get here."

"You don't understand—"

"Everything back in Ba Sing Se was a lie, right?" Ka interrupts. "I hope it was _worth it._ " Her sentence ends in a growl and Zuko's expression suddenly changes dramatically. His face goes pale and his eyes fill with fear and he suddenly puts a hand to rest against his throat, taking a step back.

Ka swallows, feeling uneasy. "Your girlfriend must be missing you," she whispers, and turns, and the sun has finally set on the rocky terrain. Aang is running towards her, and Zuko and his cliffside are nowhere to be found.

"You okay?" Aang asks, frowning.

Ka just covers her face with her hands, and Aang wraps his arms around her without a second thought.

* * *

"That settles it! No more school for you, young man! Nor you, young lady!"

Ka shoots Sokka a glare. She wishes he would take off that stupid beard. She turns away from the rest of them, tucking her knees to her chest and willing her thoughts away from a stupid prince.

"I'm not ready to leave yet!" Aang protests. "I'm having fun for once, just being a normal kid. Ka is too! You don't know what it's like, Sokka. You get to be normal all the time."

"Ha ha!" Toph laughs.

Ka cannot help but agree. She has never had a childhood, only a lifetime of fear.

"Listen guys," Aang continues, "those kids at school are the future of the Fire Nation. If we want to change this place for the better, we need to show them a little taste of freedom."

"He is right," Ka speaks up, and Katara shoots her a worried look. She turns away from it.

"What could you possibly do for a country of depraved little fire monsters?" Sokka asks.

Aang rises to his feet. "I'm gonna throw them—" he dances a little in place, grinning, "—a secret dance party!"

Silence. Everyone stares at her Avatar.

" _Go to your room!_ "

* * *

As her friends set up preparations for the party, Ka cannot stop thinking about how Zuko reacted to her anger.

So, she walks up to Katara after she places the last few candles. "Katara?" Said girl turns to her, and Ka scratches at her arm. She opens her mouth to say more, but no words come out.

Katara frowns and pulls her away to a more secluded place of the cave. "What is it, Ka? Are you okay?"

Ka looks down. "What... did I do in Ba Sing Se?"

Katara's entire body freezes in place, and she stammers over her words. "You... it was—" She swallows thickly, and Ka fears the worst. "It was like you and Aang's shared state but—your eyes were orange. Once you guys were struck, you... freaked out. You were scary. You took out nearly _all_ of the agents, and." She stops herself.

" _And?_ " Ka urges.

"You nearly killed Zuko."

Ka thinks of how Zuko had grabbed his neck and stepped away from her. She puts a hand over her mouth and steps away from her. She can suddenly see it—choking Zuko nearly to death by swirling an air bubble around him and emptying his lungs.

"Ka—"

"No, I—" She suddenly feels sick. "Enjoy the dance party without me, I—I have to go." And with that, she turns and runs, hiding with Appa in the back of the cave.

(As the party goes on, she listens to the distant sound of music and buries her face in her arms.)

* * *

He goes back to his uncle's cell, for some reason. And this time, he brought food, for some reason.

Sliding the tray into his cell, he watches his uncle's back and swallows. "I brought you some komodo chicken," he says quietly. "I know you don't care for it, but I figure it beats prison food." Uncle doesn't even move. Zuko looks down at the ground. "I admit it, I have everything I always wanted, but it's not at all how I thought it would be. The truth is, I need your advice." He grips the bars tightly, making a loud clanging noise. "I think the Avatar is still alive, I _know_ he's out there, and I keep seeing Ka everywhere I go. I'm losing my mind." His voice turns desperate. " _Please,_ Uncle, I'm so confused! I need your help!" There is just more silence. Zuko feels like crying. Instead, he screams, "Forget it! I'll solve it myself! Waste away in here for all I care!"

He resists the urge to slam his fist into the wall when he leaves. He looks back at his uncle before leaving, and feels like everything is falling apart.

* * *

Apparently they get caught by the headmaster. Ka ends up slowly climbing on Appa when she sees her friends running towards them. When they fly far away enough, Katara looks over at her brother with a sigh.

"We're safe, Sokka, you can take off the mustache now."

Sokka closes his eyes and strokes it. "Oh, no I can't. It's permanently glued to my skin."

"Way to go, dancy-pants," Toph then says to Aang, changing the subject. "I think you really _did_ help those kids. You taught them to be free."

"I don't know," Aang says, shrugging. "It was just a dance party, that's all."

Katara smiles. "Well, that was some dance party, Aang." She leans over and kisses him on the cheek, and Ka raises an eyebrow—just what happened during that party?

Sokka claps lightly, nodding his head. "Flamey-o, sir, flamey-o."

Aang looks towards Ka. "Where were you? I didn't see you during the party."

Ka can feel Katara's eyes on her. She only shrugs, and picks at her hair. "I am not much of a dancer."

Aang does not believe her, but she ignores that.

Later that night, when everyone is asleep, Sokka suddenly shakes her form and she sits up to see him frowning, his skin red and patchy from where his mustache once was.

"Hey, listen," he starts, and Ka shoots him a very visible scowl. "I know you're probably angry at me."

"Go figure," Ka says sarcastically.

Sokka gives her a look. "Hey, I'm trying to apologize here." _Oh._ "I shouldn't have called you a pet. It slipped out. I didn't mean it."

Ka looks down at her lap. "Thanks," she says softly, and lays back down, turning her back to him, refusing to acknowledge him anymore.

She thinks of Ba Sing Se, and Zuko. She has a lot of thinking to do.

* * *

"You're sure you weren't followed?"

The metal man just stares. How unsettling.

"I've heard about you. They say you're good at what you do, and even better at keeping secrets."

He can't believe he's doing this, but he has no other choice.

"The Avatar and his Minder are alive. I want you to find them, and _end them._ "

* * *

 **what a wild ride, huh?**

 **next chapter we have the painted lady, sokka's master, the beach, and perhaps the avatar and the firelord. stay tuned.**


	16. season three: episodes 3-5

**sorry for the wait. work is a mess.**

* * *

Ka grimaces down at the sludge in the river as Appa slogs his way through, moving to cover her nose and avert her eyes. The color is an ugly, murky brown, with some green mixed in. To make things even worse, her Avatar and Momo are frolicking in the putrescent water.

They chase after one another until Aang airbends himself onto his bison's saddle, then looks down at his mud-covered body. The mud drips down onto the bottom of the saddle.

"Hey guys, I think this river's polluted," Aang says, and Ka sighs. He airbends the mud off himself, causing it to splatter to the rest of them. She glares at her Avatar and silently wipes it off her eyes, before airbending the rest of it off of her.

Toph spits, the sludge apparently having gone into her mouth. "Ugh!"

"Well, that explains why I can't catch a fish around here," Sokka says, reeling in his rod, "because normally my fishing skills are off the hook!" He holds up the empty hook, grinning, mud dripping off the edge. "Get it? Like a fishing hook?"

Toph blinks. "Too bad your skills aren't _on_ the hook."

Ka snorts. Sokka frowns as the others laugh.

Katara turns for a moment to look at the river. "It looks like we'll need to go somewhere else to get food," she says, and rolls her eyes when Sokka unravels a long scroll, covered in colors and odd markings that only one person of their party can understand, "assuming that'll it into Sokka's _master_ schedule."

Sokka hums to himself as he observes the first few parts of his schedule carefully. "It's doable," he eventually decides, "but that means only _two_ potty breaks today!"

"Has our journey ever _once_ fit a schedule?" Ka deadpans, and Toph laughs next to her.

Aang rises to his feet and points ahead. "Hey, maybe we can get food there!"

In the distance is a fishing village sitting in the middle of the murky river. It looks rundown and deserted, but they decide it is their best chance.

* * *

After hiding Appa and Momo in the cliff sides, they walk down to the ferry where they are paddled to the village by a strange man named _Dock._ They tell them they are colonials, and in return, the man tells him about their village—about how they used to be a fishing town before a large Fire Nation factory set up shop, and the rundown from it ruins the river as well as the village.

When they make it to the village itself, Ka's heart sinks to her stomach. The sight of the starving, sickly villagers twists her heart in ways she cannot explain, but judging from the look Katara shares with her, there is at least someone else who understands.

"Thanks for the ride!" Aang cheerfully says to the strange man.

Katara frowns and looks across the array of sickly people. "It's so sad," she murmurs, and looks over at Ka. "We _have_ to do something to help."

Ka opens her mouth to agree, but Sokka interrupts with, "No, we can't waste our time here. We have a bigger mission that we need to stay focused on. These people are on their own."

He moves to turn away, but Ka grabs him by the forearm and yanks him back. Katara nods at her once thankfully and moves to poke him roughly, all but yelling in his face, "These people are starving! But you'd turn your back on them? How can you be so cold and heartless?"

Sokka sighs and shoves her hand away. "I'm not turning my back, I'm just being realistic," he argues. "We can't go around helping every rinky-dink town we wander into. We'll be helping them all by taking out the Fire Lord."

Toph slaps a hand over Sokka's mouth with a frown. "Hey, loud mouths!" she shouts, and then lowers her voice to a stage whisper. "Maybe we should be a little quieter when we talk about _taking out the Fire Lord._ "

Sokka shoves aside Toph's hand away as well. "Come on, Katara, be reasonable about this," he continues. "You _know_ our mission has to come first."

"There _must_ be something," Ka argues.

Katara looks between her and her brother and then crosses her arms. "I guess so," she finally huffs reluctantly. Ka frowns.

Aang walks up to the both of them with a smile. "Let's just get what we need and go," he says, making the two of them smile as well. Leave it to him to melt away even the biggest of troubles.

They walk to an outdoor market stall, and suddenly, the man who had taken them to town shoots upwards, except this time, he wears a different hat. Ka tilts her head curiously.

"Hey, Dock," Sokka greets. "You work here too?"

"I'm not Dock," the man urges, looking confused. "I'm Xu! Dock's my brother."

 _Twins?_ Ka thinks, and she and Aang share a look.

"But we just saw you," Aang says, pointing at the man's body and moving it up and down. "You're even wearing the same clothes." Then he points directly at his hat. "The only difference is your hat."

"Dock works in the docks," the man says matter-of-factly. "That's why we call him _Dock,_ and I work in the shop, that's why they call me _Xu!_ "

Aang blinks.

Ka says, "I do not understand."

"Me neither," Xu then says casually, and then jumps behind the counter to pull out a crate filled with rancid, grey seafood. "What can i get'cha?" The team jump back from the assortment, covering their noses. "Hey, I'll give you a special deal. If you buy three fish, I'll give you a clam for free!"

Sokka curiously pushes down on one of the clams. Mucus sputters from its mouth, and the others recoil in disgust. After a moment's hesitation, Sokka carefully picks up the three fish, and then, even more carefully, says, "We'll just take the fish. Mind telling your brother we need a ride back to shore?"

Xu jumps down behind the counter and then reappears, wearing Dock's hat. "Hey, colonials! My brother says you need a lift." He lunges over the counter and begins to walk towards his boat.

Albeit a bit reluctantly, the team begins to follow the odd man. Suddenly, a small child grabs onto Katara's skirt, looking up at her armful of fish.

"Can you spare some food?" he asks softly.

Katara exhales softly and kneels down, gently places one of the fish in the boy's hand. "I wish I could help more," she tells him genuinely, and the boy bows to her before running away to a small hut, showing the fish to a woman laying on the wooden floor, a thin blanket thrown over her body. She pats his head with a weary smile, and Ka has to force herself to look away.

* * *

Ka can only think of the scars on the poor boy's shoulders and the sweat on the sick mother's face as she bends away the water from the pollutants. Aang passes the water from her control to Katara, who boils it in a crock. It is a somewhat, sort of, team system.

Sokka furiously scans his eyes across his master schedule. "Our detour into town today has _completely_ thrown off our schedule. It's gonna take some serious finagling to get us back on track."

Ka raises an eyebrow at the word choice. "Finagle away, oh _schedule master_ , " Toph comments sarcastically.

"Well, for starters, it looks like we'll need to wake up forty-three minutes earlier every day."

"How specific," Ka mutters.

"Forty- _three_ minutes?" Katara asks incredulously.

Sokka spreads his schedule down on the grass and begins pointing to various spots. "Look, we only have a few weeks to get to the Fire Lord in time for the invasion and the eclipse," _oh,_ Ka remembers, she has to fight the Fire Lord soon, "which, by the way, only lasts for eight minutes. And we just lost a whole day. So if we want to make up the time and stay on schedule, we have to wake up early!"

There is a pause. "Well, _I'm_ not waking up early," Toph declares, laying on her back.

"Or we could just cut out all of our eating breaks," Sokka then suggests, turning away with folded arms.

"What?"

"No way!"

"Forget it!"

Sokka suddenly gets a look on his face—the look he gets when he gets some sort of crazy, and probably bad, idea. "I got it!" he announces, and whirls around. "From now on, we'll take food breaks and potty breaks at the _same time!_ "

Gross. Ka tells him as such.

"Hey, it might be gross, but it's efficient," Sokka argues. "Either way, we have to leave here _first_ thing tomorrow morning."

Katara looks away in dismay. Ka gives her an odd look, but does not ask about it.

* * *

The next day, while they are preparing to leave, it becomes known that Appa is apparently ill. His tongue is purple, and Katara suggests going into town to find medicine.

When they enter the town, it seems more lively. There are children playing outside and people cleaning up different parts of the village.

The cause? A spirit named the Painted Lady—a woman of the river who watches over the town and apparently visited to give the people food last night.

The search for Appa's medicine was in vain, as it is soon discovered. All medicine goes to the factory, and they end up deciding to stay for another night and buying more food.

Before they leave, Ka steps in front of the miniature statue Dock (or, Xu, she supposes) had shown to them. She bows to pay her respects, and ignores the way the black on her hair burns.

* * *

The next day, Appa is still sick. Sokka makes a rude comment about the Painted Lady after buying more fish. Ka promptly elbows him in the ribs and reminds him to be kind to the spirits.

Her efforts are in vain. Aang and Sokka continue to mock and make jokes, so she turns to the newfound statue of the Painted Lady and apologizes on their behalf. Katara laughs with her.

* * *

That night, Ka hears a ruffling and shoots straight up immediately. At first, she wonders if she is seeing the Fire Nation prince again, but then she sees a veil of white disappearing behind a rock, and trails after it. Aang apparently has the same idea.

They chase what turns out to be the Painted Lady spirit until she is finally cornered, and the spirit looks down after being caught.

"My name's Aang," he greets with a smile, and then lifts his headband to point at his arrow, "I'm the Avatar."

He waits for Ka to introduce herself, but she is too busy staring at the spirit to say anything. She suspects this is not a spirit. Ka, of all people, knows what a spirit feels and looks like.

"Well, hello, Avatar," comes Katara's heavily disguised voice, and Ka scowls deeply. "I wish I could talk, but I am _very_ busy."

"Really," Ka deadpans, and then sends a blast of air in her direction to send her hat flying upwards, exposing Katara's face. The latter reaches up to cover herself immediately, but the truth has already been revealed. "It is definitely frowned upon to impersonate a spirit."

"Katara? " Aang asks, shocked.

Katara sighs. "Hi, Aang. Hi, Ka."

" _You're_ the Painted Lady?" Aang asks, and points at her in surprise. "But... how?"

"I wasn't her at first," Katara defends, "I was just trying to help the village." She slides her hat off. "But since everyone thought that's who I was anyway, I guess I just kind of... became her."

"No, you did not," Ka affirms.

"Sorry," Katara says.

"So you've been sneaking out at night?" Aang asks. "Wait, is Appa even _sick?_ "

"He... might be sick of the purple berries I've been feeding him, but other than that he's fine!"

"I can't believe you lied to everyone, so you could help these people..."

"I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have—"

"No, I think it's great!" Aang says happily. "You're like a secret hero!"

"Well," Katara says after a moment, "if you wanna help, there's one more thing I have to do." She then looks over at Ka with raised eyebrows. "You in?"

Ka taps her fingers against her arm and sighs. "While I wish you had not impersonated a spirit, I would have probably done the same." She nods firmly. "I'm in."

* * *

One more thing turns out to be destroying the factory. It is a lot easier than it should be, and they are in and out in no time.

They return to the camp, and are promptly caught by the rest of their friends. Before they can leave, however, a group of Fire Nation soldiers from the factory begin speeding towards the village. Sokka and Katara argue a bit more about what to do before Katara stomps off with a firm shout of _No, I will never, ever turn my back on people who need me!_

Eventually, they reconcile once Sokka goes with her, and they head down to the village, this time, with a plan.

* * *

They scare the firebenders away by pretending Katara is the Painted Lady, come to seek revenge. They are discovered, in the end, and convince the villagers to clean up the river after a good while.

The river becomes clearer and more pristine, and the village is so much more improved by the end of the day.

Ka cannot be happier about not skipping a town.

* * *

When Sokka is off training with a swordsmaster, the rest of the team is left alone to their own devices for days. Turns out, they do not have many devices to be left alone with.

It is dreadfully boring. Ka does not even pay any mind to the back of the Fire Nation prince that she sees occasionally.

(When they go to the Fire Nation capital, she will get her revenge.)

* * *

 _This is what I wanted,_ Zuko continually tells himself as he watches Ty Lee excitedly chatter to Azula about something. _This is what I wanted,_ he says again when Mai shifts against him, her arms folded across her chest. _I finally got everything I wanted,_ he says one more time, as he stares down at the deck of the small ferry that takes them to Ember Island.

"I'm _so_ excited to spend the weekend on Ember Island!" Ty Lee chirps. "It's going to be great to hang out on the beach and do nothing." She stretches her arms behind her head and grins.

"Doing nothing is a waste of time," Zuko snaps, rising to his feet. "We're being sent away on a forced vacation." The smell of the ocean reminds him of his years spent searching for the Avatar (and his Minder), but its scent will always be soothing to him. He can truly feel like himself here. But, right now, he's furious, and spits, "I feel like a child."

"Lighten up," Azula comments casually. "So Dad wants to meet with his advisers alone, without anyone else around. Don't take it personally."

He does. There must be _something_ going on, and it _kills_ him to be in the dark about it.

"Doesn't your family have a house on Ember Island?" Ty Lee asks.

Azula turns towards her and replies, "We used to come every summer when we were kids."

"That must've been fun!"

It was. For a period of time. But that part of his life is over, and now he is scarred and torn and his heart constantly feels like it's been ripped out of his chest. He looks at Ty Lee once, but when he sees a flicker of white hair behind her, scowls and turns back to the ocean.

"That was a long time ago," he says distantly.

* * *

They get to Ember Island, and get settled into their rooms. They find a painting of two beautiful women—who end up being Lo and Li, much to their dismay. They also find a horrible bedspread on their temporary sleeping places.

 _Ember Island is a magical place,_ the twins tell them. _Keep an open mind. Give it a chance. And it can help you understand yourselves and each other._

If only. With that in mind, they decide to go to the beach.

* * *

"Aang, I know swimming is fun and all," Toph comments from where she sits on the rock, hearing the distant splashes of the Avatar, "but do you really think you should be exposing yourself like that? Cover up!"

Ka wonders just how she knows they are exposed, but decides not to fuss about it, and instead wrings her hands through her hair to comb through it. The constant blackening of her hair has made it hard and tangled. It takes much time just to wash it out and keep her hair healthy enough to take the flower dye.

"What?" Aang replies defensively to Toph. "I'm wearing trunks."

"I know," Toph calls. "It's your tattoos I'm worried about. What if someone sees you? And Ka? I remember someone saying she has tattoos."

"I do," Ka says.

"There are walls all around us," Katara assures, ankle-deep in the water. "It's completely safe."

Ka watches as Aang and Momo disappear behind a rock, followed by loud, echoing cheering. She rolls her eyes, and goes back to smoothing out her hair, letting her eyes close as the water drips down her face. When she opens them again, Zuko is staring right at her, looking confused and intrigued all at the same time, sitting on the ground with his arms stretched out, like he had just thrown something. They stare at each other for a moment, and then Zuko is suddenly getting a high flush on his cheeks. Ka scowls and splashes water towards him, and he disappears.

"What's wrong?" Katara asks.

Ka has gone back and forth on whether she should tell her friends about the boy she constantly sees. She is much more content to pretend he does not exist.

So, in the end, Ka says _Nothing,_ and wrings out her hair.

* * *

They steal a spot on the beach from children making a sandcastle—Azula steps on it, stares them don, and smiles as they run away screaming. Zuko just looks away.

Immediately, a teenage boy rushes up to them and smiles at Ty Lee, as if everyone else were invisible. "Hey," he says, grinning, eyeing Ty Lee not-so-subtly, up and down, "you need some help unpacking?"

"Sure!" Ty Lee says. "Thanks."

She hands him her bag, but the sheer weight of it causes him to fall onto the sand. Smiling at her, the boy doesn't even pay attention to what he tosses out until he finds what looks like a towel. He spreads it onto the sand for her, brushes off, and stands in front of her as she sits on it.

Ty Lee then squints at the sun, and gestures to the side with her hand, "Could you scooch just a little bit more to the—" Before she even finishes her request, the teenage boy, his delighted expression unchanging, immediately moves in front of the sun. Ty Lee winks at him, "Perfect."

Zuko just rolls his eyes and goes to sit under an umbrella with Mai. They sit in silence for a while, until a boy runs past, laughing, and accidentally kicks a shell towards them with the back of his foot. Zuko stares at it for a moment before picking it up, turning to his girlfriend, saying, "Here. This is for you."

Mai stares at it, unimpressed. "Why would I want that?"

Zuko frowns. That's not what she's supposed to say. "I saw it, and I thought it was pretty. Don't girls like stuff like this?"

Mai scoffs. "Maybe stupid girls."

Anger fills him. _This is beautiful,_ Ka would have said upon seeing the shell, probably taking it in her thin hands and running her fingers over it, and then would have probably said something about the spirits and nature. But Ka is not here, and he's with Mai, his girlfriend. So he yells _Forget it!_ and tosses the shell elsewhere.

The shell lands near some other guy, and he uses it to try and impress Ty Lee. But Zuko doesn't pay attention to all that—instead, he watches the sudden figure that has appeared in the water before him.

Her hair is white this time, and her hands run through it, her eyes closed calmly. Out of all the other times he has seen her, this is the most content she has been. She stands directly in front of the sun, and with the light surrounding her, she looks like an angel. A goddess. Her tattoos seem to glow in the sun.

Then she opens her violet eyes, and that calmness turns to pure hatred.

Zuko flushes, and Ka scowls before splashing water towards him. He feels himself get wet, but no water appears on his body anywhere, and once he looks back up she's gone.

Whenever he thinks of Ka, she appears to him. Maybe he's just imagining it all, and she really _is_ dead.

(Because of him.)

 _I have to stop thinking about her when Mai is around,_ he thinks, but then amends it to, _I have to stop thinking about her at all._

Shaking his head, he spots a little ice cream shop nearby, and gets up.

* * *

Mai doesn't like her ice cream. It falls onto her lap.

(Ka would have just snickered at him and taken his. _Stop thinking about her,_ he reminds himself.)

Then, Azula calls them for volleyball. It's a good distraction for everything that's piled up in his head and his heart. They end up all but destroying the other team, Azula probably scarring them for life.

Their game attracts two so-called popular kids, who approach them and invite them to a party tonight.

"Sure," Ty Lee replies, the question obviously directed towards her. "I love parties!"

The other looks towards Mai, "Your friend can come, too."

Wow. It's like they're invisible. Azula does not take this lightly, and frowns a bit as she says, "Uh... what about me and my brother? Aren't you going to invite us?" The two boys look at each other in confusion. Oh. "You don't know who we are, do you?"

"Don't you know who _we_ are?" one of them retorts. "We're Chan and Ruon-Jian."

"Yeah."

That's it. Zuko grits his teeth and clenches his fists as he approaches, ready to do something violent, but Azula throws an arm over his chest to stop him in place.

"But, fine," Chan then says, "you're invited. Just so you know, though, some of the most important teenagers in the Fire Nation are gonna be at this party, so try and act normal."

Azula gives a sinister smile. She is way too delighted about this. "We'll do our best."

* * *

Back at the beach house, they eat with the twins in silence.

That is, until Zuko breaks it with, "Why didn't you tell those guys who we were?"

"I guess I as intrigued," Azula replies, shrugging. "I'm so used to people worshiping us."

"They should," Ty Lee says happily.

"Yes, I know, and I love it," Azula says. "But, for once, I just wanted to see how people would treat us if they didn't know who we were."

Zuko thinks of Li and his family—how they took him in and gave him food and a place to rest without ever questioning who he is or what his name was, and then how they scorned and rejected him once he nearly burned the village down. He thinks of the girl with the scarred leg and her mother who made he and his uncle dinner. He knows of how people treat you when they do not know you, and then how they do when they _do_ know you.

"Like waves washing away the footprints on the sand, Ember Island gives everyone a clean slate."

The sound of one of the twins' voices (he really can never tell which one is speaking) snaps him back to reality. He's in the Fire Nation now, he reminds himself, and will never be on the run or on the streets again.

"Ember Island reveals the true you."

Then the twins stand, clap, snap their fingers, and point. "To the party!"

* * *

They knock on the door of Chan's house, and his face twists in confusion once he opens it.

"Um," he says. "You're a little early. No one's here yet."

"I heard you telling someone you'd be partying from dusk 'til dawn," Azula says, matter-of-factly. "It's dusk, so we're here."

Chan blinks. "But that's just an expression."

"We are the perfect party guests," Azula urges, her voice very serious. "We arrive right on time, because we are very punctual." She emphasizes her words by smacking her palms together.

Chan shrugs and steps aside for them to walk in. He shuts the door and then walks in, the others following behind.

"Alright, listen," he says, turning. "My dad's an admiral. He has _no_ idea I'm having this party." He turns towards Azula, who stands right behind him. "So don't mess anything up."

Azula smiles. "That's a sharp outfit, Chan," she suddenly says. "Careful. You could puncture the hull of an empire-class Fire Nation battleship, leaving thousands to drown at sea." There's a pause. She points at him. "Because it's so sharp."

"Um... thanks," Chan says awkwardly, and walks away. Azula frowns in disappointment.

Chan's friend perks up and turns away from the mirror he was so focused on when they walk by. "Hey!" he greets. "First ones here, huh?"

"He thinks he's so great," Zuko mutters when he thinks he sees Ruon-Jian stare at Mai a little longer than necessary. When Mai doesn't say anything, he turns his head to her with a frown. "Well, what do _you_ think of him?"

"I don't have any opinion about him. I hardly know him."

"You like him, don't you?"

Mai sighs and walks off, waving him off with a dismissive flick of her hand. When she doesn't look, Zuko turns to glare at Ruon-Jian. The latter gives him a weird look before shaking his head and turning away.

* * *

Soon enough, the party begins to start. Rowdy teenagers crowd into the house and begin making somewhat of a mess. Food is passed around. Ty Lee is surrounded by boys.

Zuko and Mai sit on a bench, ignoring the rest of the party. Mai is leaning against him, but is turned away, her arms crossed. She's expressionless—just like Ka. But she's almost emotionless—which is the complete opposite of Ka. When she speaks, it's short sentences and it's monotone. It's all wrong. It's similar, but all wrong. When Ka speaks, she _always_ says something meaningful. Not like now.

"I'm bored," Mai says. It's wrong.

"I know." He clenches his fists where she can't see.

"I'm hungry."

"So what?"

" _So,_ find me some food."

"Sure," he says— _finally, something to do—_ and stands up to walk away.

When he walks towards the food table, he sees Azula walk out onto some balcony with Chan, and raises his eyebrows. Azula has never really liked anyone before (other than Ty Lee, he thinks), but he thinks she has been jealous of all the bubbly girl's attention. Which would make sense.

He makes it to the food table and starts absentmindedly placing food on a plate. He doesn't pay attention to what he's doing or how he's doing it, but somehow he manages to get at least something he thinks Mai will like on it.

When he turns around to head back, he's not at the party anymore.

Instead, he's standing a few feet away from Ka, as she lays down on the arm of Appa, staring up at the sky. He blinks once, twice, and then looks all around the area. He can't see the rest of Ka's friends, and that's when he realizes that he hasn't seen her Avatar with her since he began seeing her.

"Whenever I think of you," Ka suddenly says, making him flinch, "you appear."

 _It's the same for me,_ he doesn't say. "You were thinking of me?" he does say.

"I was thinking of killing you," she says seriously. "I am not a violent person. I am a spirit. I must protect life." She glances up towards him with nothing but pure rage. "But you have killed me and my Avatar. I can never forgive you."

He can only nod. While his sister may have struck them down, his betrayal would have killed them all the same.

"I often wonder if you cared when I died," Ka says, and Zuko opens his mouth to say yes, of course, but he can say nothing. He doesn't have the right. So, he keeps his mouth shut, and Ka murmurs, "I wonder if you even cared for me at all."

"I did," Zuko immediately argues. "I _do._ "

"Liar," Ka says blankly, and stands up. She walks up to him, getting incredibly close, and whispers _Go back to your party_ before lifting her fist and punching him squarely in the face.

When her fist impacts with his face, he stumbles backwards and knocks into a teen near the food table. Ka is gone and so is the food from the plate—it spills all over the ground. Not sure where to direct his sudden anger to, he whirls around and faces the other teen with a scowl.

"Hey, watch it! That food was for my cranky girlfriend!"

"You ran into me! Whoa, dude, your nose is bleeding."

Zuko looks over at said cranky girlfriend and sees her talking to Ruon-Jian, of all people. He rubs his nose and stares at the blood that remains on his fingers when he pulls back, then ignores the pain, before clenching his fists and stomping over. He shoves Ruon-Jian aside, rougher than he means to, but in the end, he doesn't really care.

"What are you doing?" Ruon-Jian demands incredulously.

"Stop talking to my girlfriend!" Zuko shouts back.

"Relax," Ruon-Jian then says, shaking off Zuko's shove and walking closer to him. "It's just a party."

Zuko pauses, and thinks about his actions, only for a moment, before grabbing Ruon-Jian by the collar of his shirt and tossing him across the room hard enough to shatter a nearby vase.

Mai rises to her feet and grabs him by the shoulder, whirling him around to face her. "Zuko," she starts angrily, "what is _wrong_ with you?"

"What's wrong with _me?_ "

"Your temper is out of control!" she scolds. "You blow up over every little thing. You're so impatient and hotheaded and angry!"

"Well, at least I _feel_ something, as opposed to _you!_ " he snaps back, throwing his arms in the air. "You have no passion for _anything!_ You're just a big _blah!_ "

Mai frowns at him, and then brushes off her sleeve. "It's over, Zuko," she says, turning her back to him. "We're done."

Chan runs up to his friend and pulls him up by the arm. "Who broke my nana's vase?" he gasps, and when his friend points to Zuko he rushes up to him and jabs a finger into his chest. "That's it! You're out of here!"

Scowling, Zuko turns away and says, "I was just leaving." He's tired of this stupid party.

So he leaves, ignoring the taunts of the teens behind him, and slams the door for good measure.

* * *

He doesn't really have anywhere to go, so he walks along the beach, spacing out further and further until he walks to avoid a rock and turns his head to see his family's abandoned vacation home.

His life was much simpler when he was younger. There was no Avatar. There was no Minder. There was no scar. His mother was still around and his father didn't think of him as weak—not yet. He remembers getting along with Azula, at least most of the time.

(Zuko thinks he at least tried to be a good older brother. Whenever Azula got hurt by one of the animals on the beach, he always scared it off and all but carried his sister into the water. Whenever she had a severe allergic reaction to the fire lilies that surrounded the palace in spring, he always stayed by her side and delivered medicine so she could get better.

He thinks of his sister back then, and then of her now. The war has changed them. There is no innocence in the Fire Nation, and there is no childhood.)

Walking up to the vacation home, he climbs the steps, and pauses when he hears the creaking sound.

(Whenever Uncle and Lu Ten would make a surprise visit to Ember Island, it wasn't really much of a surprise. The stairs would creak whenever someone stepped on them. He always knew they were coming, before they even opened the door to yell _Surprise!_ )

The door is locked, so he merely kicks it down.

Inside the house is dusty and broken down. There are floorboards out of place and paintings just barely keeping themselves on the walls. Zuko nearly trips on one of these open floorboards as he walks up to one such painting. It's a family portrait—when their family was still happy ( _debatable,_ he thinks). His mother's face is stoic but her eyes almost look _sad,_ even when written in paint. Azula has the twinkling of a young psychopath written in her smile, and their father simply stares at him through the portrait.

And himself? He looks young. He wonders how much his journey has aged him.

Underneath the portrait is a stone imprinted with his hand print, from when he was a baby. He has a vague memory of a gentle, warm hand taking him by the wrist and placing his palm in something wet, soothing his squirming and whining with sweet nothings.

Zuko puts his hand over the tiny stone. It smothers it.

Behind him, he hears shouting and explosions. Turning, he's suddenly in some sort of secluded hot springs, surrounded by tall cliffs. Ka is throwing all of her supplies into Appa's saddle, and she gasps out loud when another explosion hits the ground right underneath her, sending her flying upwards. She airbends herself to safety however, and that's when Zuko realizes just what he's done.

He's sent an _assassin_ after her. He knows he has—he made those orders himself, but seeing it in action sends his heart in a twist and panic rises in his chest.

Immediately, he turns away, setting the stone down so quickly it falls to the ground with a clatter. His hands trembling, he wipes them on his pants, and then whirls around—to shout her name, maybe, or do _something._

But there's nothing there but the foundation of a home once bright.

And Azula, for some reason.

"I thought I'd find you here," she says softly, her hand on her hip. Then she raises an eyebrow at how he looks. "What's with you?"

By her tone it's obvious she doesn't care. "Nothing," he forces out, and swallows his anxiety. "Those summers we spent here seem so long ago. So much has changed."

Azula purses her lips. "Come down to the beach with me," she then says, waving with her hand. "Come on. This place is depressing."

He lets his sister lead him all the way down towards the beach, where Mai and Ty Lee sit on rocks near each other. When he walks by Mai, he stops in place and stares at her, unsure of what to do.

Mai stares back. "Hey," she then greets, her voice hesitant.

"Where's your new boyfriend?" The words come out of his mouth before he can stop them, and Mai turns away, annoyed. He moves to sit next to her, and reaches out his hands. "Are you cold?" he asks, but she just slaps his hands away when he gets close enough to touch her.

"I'm _freezing,_ " Ty Lee says, holding her arms together.

Zuko smiles at her, though it's strained. "I'll make a fire," he says, and then turns to look at the vacation house. "There's plenty of stuff to burn in _there._ "

As he walks to the house to gather a bunch of useless garbage, he hears nothing but screaming and explosions. _This is crazy!_ he thinks he hears a voice say, though he can't pinpoint it. One of Ka's friends, probably. He doesn't look from side to side, and instead stares straight ahead, his hands trembling at his sides.

 _He knows who we are,_ he hears Ka's voice faintly when he has gathered up enough garbage to burn, and he closes his eyes to shut the rest of this spirit-visiting stuff out.

And so, to calm his nerves, he starts a campfire and tosses the family portrait into it without any hesitation. He watches his own face burn.

"What are you doing?" Ty Lee gasps.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Surely it must be obvious. Is she s _tupid?_

"But, it's a painting of your family."

"You think I care?"

Ty Lee pauses. "I think you do."

"You don't know me," he snaps, "so why don't you just mind your own business?" He turns to walk away, but Ty Lee scoffs behind him.

"I know you," she argues.

 _"No,_ you don't," Zuko says back. "You're stuck in your little _Ty Lee world_ where everything's great all the time."

"Zuko," Mai warns, "leave her alone."

Zuko frowns and walks in front of the campfire, facing the ocean. " _I'm so pretty,_ " he imitates. " _Look at me. I can walk on my hands. Whoo!_ " He does a handstand, and stares at Ty Lee blankly, ignoring her upset look. He falls to the ground and looks up at the sky. "Circus freak."

Azula giggles in response, but she quickly stops when Ty Lee glares at her.

" _Yes,_ " Ty Lee cries, "I'm a circus freak. Go ahead and laugh all your want. You want to know _why_ I joined the circus?"

"Here we go," Azula sighs.

"Do you have _any_ idea what my home life was like?" Ty Lee asks, her voice raising higher and higher with emotion. "Growing up with six sisters who look _exactly_ like me?" She rises to her feet. "It was like I didn't even have my own _name._ " She falls to her knees and covers her eyes, tears streaking down her face. Zuko suddenly feels awful. "I joined the circus because I was scared of spending the rest of my life as part of a matched set. At least I'm different now." She lifts her head angrily, glaring pointedly in his direction. " _Circus freak_ is a _compliment._ "

"Guess that explains why you need ten boyfriends, too," Mai comments.

Ty Lee whips her head around, balls her hands to fists, and places them on her hips. "I'm sorry, _what?_ "

"Attention issues," Mai says. "You couldn't get enough attention when you were a kid, so you're trying to make up for now."

Ty Lee scowls. "Well, what's _your_ excuse, Mai? You were an only child for fifteen years, but even with _all_ that attention, your aura is this dingy, pasty, gray—"

"I don't believe in auras."

"Yeah," Zuko scoffs, rising to his feet, "you don't believe in _anything._ "

"Oh, well," Mai says sarcastically, "I'm sorry I can't be as high-strung and crazy as the rest of you."

Zuko walks up to the campfire, crossing his arms. "I'm sorry, too. I wish you would be high-strung and crazy for once instead of keeping all your feelings bottled up inside." He gestures to Ty Lee roughly. "She just called your aura dingy. Are you gonna take that?"

Mai sighs and leans back against the rock, stretching her arms behind her head. "What do you want from me?" she says. "You want a teary confession about how hard my childhood was? Well, it wasn't. I was a rich, only child who got anything I wanted... as long as I behaved and sat still, and didn't speak unless spoken to." Zuko is suddenly reminded of Ka, and her own father, who would steal her face if she ever showed her true feelings. "My mother said I had to keep out of trouble. We had my dad's political career to think about."

Silence fills the air, save for the crackle of fire. Azula then breaks it by saying, "Well, that's it, then. You had a controlling mother who had certain expectations, and if you strayed from them, you were shut down. That's why you're afraid to care about anything, and why you can't express yourself."

"You want me to express myself?" Mai suddenly says, her voice loud, and stands up in anger. " _Leave me alone!_ "

Zuko walks over her, reaching out to touch her shoulder. "I like it when you express yourself."

She smacks him away. "Don't touch me!" she shouts. "I'm still mad at you." And she sits, turning away from him with a deep scowl.

"My life hasn't been that easy either, Mai," Zuko spits, feeling fire burn in his blood. Scarred, cast out, rejected by his family and nearly all of his crew. Homeless and starving. None of his friends could ever understand.

( _Ka did,_ his mind supplies, and he grits his teeth.)

"Whatever," Mai dismisses, and it sinks his heart to his stomach. "That doesn't excuse the way you've been acting."

"Calm down, you guys," Ty Lee urges. "This much negative energy is bad for your skin. You'll _totally_ break out."

" _Bad skin?_ " Zuko repeats incredulously. " _Normal_ teenagers worry about bad skin. I don't have that luxury. My father decided to teach me a permanent lesson on my _face!_ " And he points for good show.

Ty Lee swallows, obviously uncomfortable. "Sorry, Zuko, I—"

He whirls around, unable to force a lid on it anymore. "For so long I thought that if my dad accepted me, I'd be happy. I'm back home now, my dad talks to me. _Ha!_ He even thinks I'm a _hero!_ Everything should be perfect, right? I should be happy now, but I'm not." He then turns back to his friends, and oddly enough, Ka is standing behind them all, staring at him with an emotion he can't decipher. He ignores it, and continues, "I'm angrier than ever and I don't know why!"

"There's a simple question you need to answer, then," Azula says calmly. "Who are you angry at?"

"No one," he answers. "I'm just angry."

"Yeah, who are you angry at, Zuko?" Mai asks. Ka is _still_ staring.

"Everyone," he replies unsurely, then makes a frustrated noise. "I don't know."

"Is it Dad?"

A question that can be explored another time. "No, no."

"Your uncle?"

At first, maybe. But never in a million years. Not now.

"Me?" Azula asks. _Yes,_ he would say, but it's not right.

"No, _no,_ n-no!"

"Then who?" Mai asks, narrowing her eyes. "Who are you angry at?"

"Answer the question, Zuko."

"Talk to us."

"Come on, answer the question."

"Come on, answer it."

The badgering and the constant swarm of words make him bubble into an explosive rage he can't control anymore. So, with fury he shouts, "I'm angry at _myself!_ " Throwing his fists down, the campfire turns into a large pillar of flames. After a moment, they die down, and Zuko turns away from them.

"Why?" Azula asks after a moment.

"Because I'm confused," he admits. "Because I'm not sure I know the difference between right and wrong anymore."

"You're pathetic."

"I know one thing I care about," comes Mai's voice, suddenly closer, softer. She walks up beside Zuko and puts a hand on his face, turning him towards her. "I care about _you._ " And then she kisses him.

After a moment, Azula claps, causing them to pull apart and look towards her. Zuko watches as Ka turns away and fades into nothing.

"Well, those were _wonderful_ performances, everyone," Azula drawls.

"I guess _you_ wouldn't understand, would you, Azula?" Zuko says, his bitterness accidentally coming out. He puts an arm around Mai, and she leans into him. He feels guilt from the action, oddly enough. "Because you're just _so_ perfect."

"Well, yes, I guess you're right," Azula says casually, shrugging. "I don't have sob stories like all of you. I could sit here and complain how our mom liked Zuko more than me, but I don't really care." She turns to gaze into the fire, and stares. "My own mother... thought I was a monster." There's a momentary pause, where Azula shakes herself off and looks up at everyone else. "She was right, of course, but it still hurt."

Zuko knows this to be a fact. Mimicking his sister's behavior just to get approval would always disappoint his mother.

Ty Lee smiles. "What Lo and Li said came true. The beach _did_ help us learn about ourselves." She picks up a nearby rocks and runs her fingers down its slick edges. "I feel all _smoothed._ I'll always remember this."

Azula suddenly stands, putting her hands on her hips. "You know what would make this trip _really_ memorable?"

* * *

They destroy Chan's house, and ruin his party. It's a great bonding experience, really. Chan's crying face is one Zuko wishes he can have painted to carry around forever.

They end up heading back home later that night. While everyone else is asleep, Zuko stands out on the deck, leaning against the railing, staring down into the ocean. For a moment, he closes his eyes, and imagines himself back in the South Pole, when he was more foolish and more unaware, before the Avatar and the Minder came back into the world.

If he could tell anything to his past self, all those months ago, he'd probably put his hands on his younger self's shoulders and say _Take a deep breath. It will all be okay._ He would tell himself all the things he wishes someone would have said to him. He remembers just how lost he used to be, and just how lost he is now.

"If I were really here," comes Ka's voice from behind him, and he does not flinch, because really, he isn't surprised, "I would think about killing you while you are so distracted."

She has changed from appearing from once a week to several times a day.

"Really?" he murmurs, not turning around.

"You appear to me constantly," she says, "but you do not notice me." She gives a dry laugh. "Can I even ask what I was to you?"

"You know how I felt about you," Zuko argues, turning around to face her. She wears her Fire Nation outfit again, but her hair remains white. _It's a good look,_ his mind betrays him.

"Was it real?"

"What?"

Ka's expression does not change. "Was it real? Or a facade? A ploy that you made up to get me into your clutches?"

"Now that's not true—"

"Isn't it!?" Ka shouts, and Zuko is reminded of hurdling winds and glowing orange eyes, and he swallows thickly. "I _died!_ " she continues, pointing to herself with a hard finger and taking a step forward. "My Avatar _died!_ While you were enjoying your return to the palace, I was trapped in the Spirit World, lost, on the verge of falling into the other side!"

"I didn't kill you," is all he can say. He regrets it as soon as he says it.

Ka stares at him with an open mouth. "You did not," she agrees slowly, "but it was _your fault._ "

Zuko thinks of how his sister had struck the duo down without a second thought, with a _smile,_ ending their lives without any sort of regret. Maybe, if he hadn't been changed, at least a little bit, he could have done the same himself. He did not lov— _like_ Ka, he could have killed her without even thinking twice about it. But he watched her fall to the ground with a heavy heart and a tight throat, and the cost of it was the air being pulled from his lungs by an out-of-control Minder.

Ka watches with a heavy gaze as he automatically reaches up to touch his neck, and it's like she's slapped in the face by guilt.

"I apologize," she says automatically.

"I thought you wanted to kill me."

"I do," Ka admits, and then clenches her fists, "but I am debating with my own inner self about... that."

"I deserve it," Zuko then says, surprising her. "A life for a life, right?" It's a joke. Somewhat. Not really.

Ka opens her mouth, closes it, then opens it again.

Zuko turns back to the ocean, and beats her to the punch by saying, "I'm sorry for betraying you." If he could go back and change things, he would.

He hears Ka murmur something, but he can't quite make it out. He turns, starting to ask her just what it was she said, but when he looks over his shoulder, she's gone, and there is no hint that she had even been there in the first place.

* * *

"Ka?" comes Aang's voice, as they prepare to sleep in their new, hopefully-safer spot, away from their alleged assassin. "Who do you keep talking to?"

Ka thinks of when she had told Aang, long ago, that she was visiting Zuko in Ba Sing Se. He would never betray her trust, not then, and certaintly not now.

So she takes a deep breath, rubs at her wet eyes, and turns to her Avatar.

"I have to tell you something."

* * *

 **whoa.**

 **weird ka-zuko spiritual connection? yes. think the last jedi-style. or sense8. whichever you prefer.**

 **next chapter: the avatar and the fire lord, the runaway, and the puppetmaster. more interactions await.**


	17. season three: episodes 6-7

**this chapter contains a lot of original content, set in the timeline of the canon events.**

* * *

"Why is it _always_ Zuko?" Aang sighs once Ka tells him everything—he seems more exasperated than anything.

Ka frowns. "I apologize."

"What are you sorry for?" Aang then asks, sounding confused. "You didn't do anything wrong, after all. You said you don't know how it's happening, right? It's not your fault."

Ka scratches her arm and then digs her nails into her skin. "I fear I may have done it accidentally," she admits softly. "When trapped in the Spirit World," she then adds, voice louder.

Aang blinks, then glances around them. In a hushed whisper, he leans forward and says, "Is he here right now?"

"He just left before I told you," Ka deadpans. "I am not sure how to control if and when he comes. Sometimes, I come to him."

"Weird," Aang says, and really, Ka thinks he should be more upset and angered about this whole situation rather than being impressed at Ka's accidental spiritual prowess. "Do you think it's 'cause you're a spirit?"

"Perhaps," Ka answers. "For now, I have elected to ignore it. It is dangerous for the Fire Nation to know that both of us live, especially the Fire Lord's son."

Aang processes this for a moment, and then nods quickly. "Oh, yeah, that'd be pretty bad."

"What are you guys talking about?" Toph groans from her earth tent, a few feet away. Ka would not be surprised if she had heard their entire conversation. "It's late. Just go to bed already."

Aang and Ka glances at one another, and then shrug in unison. "Alright," they agree, also at the same time.

Toph just groans and Ka hears her flop against the ground roughly.

* * *

That night, in their dreams, Avatar Roku and Minder Divya call to them.

" _It's time you learn of my history with Fire Lord Sozin,_ " Avatar Roku says.

" _You must understand how the war began, if you want to know how to end it._ " Divya.

Then, Roku, once more, " _Meet me on my home island on the day of the summer solstice._ "

And so, in the morning, when they wake, they pack up and head for Avatar Roku's home island.

* * *

He's woken up by hurried footsteps but they disappear once Zuko rushes up out of bed and goes after them. He's about to chase them down the hallway when his feet brush against some sort of scroll on the ground. Squatting down, he picks up and rolls it open, murmuring the contents of it aloud to himself:

" _You need to know the story of your great-grandfather's demise. It will reveal your own destiny._ "

Pausing, he slowly rolls the scroll back up and looks down the hallway where the cloaked figure had rushed down. His great-grandfather? He knows _everything_ about him. It was one of the first things he learned as a child of royalty.

It doesn't make any sense. Zuko scowls and retreats back to his room.

* * *

"There it is!" Aang calls, and Ka pauses in her cloud-bending to look over her shoulder at where Aang is pointing. "That's Roku's home."

What greets them is a blackened island with a dormant volcano at the top of it all. It is completely barren, not a single building—or _anything,_ really—to be seen.

"But, there's nothing here," Katara notes confusedly as she hops off Appa, dust scattering around her feet when she lands on the black ground.

Toph jumps from the saddle, and her expression saddens when her feet touch the ground. "Yes, there is," she says somewhat softly. "An entire village, hundreds of houses... all completely buried in ash."

Ka looks over to the volcano, and then over at Aang. She does not even have to use words. He smiles and nods at her, and they move to a more remote and quiet area of the island to meditate.

When her arm brushes against his, she has a sudden vision of a young Aang airbending across one of the air temples, much to the annoyance of the monks around him. The entire image is bathed in soft light. It is over as quickly as it started.

She stops in place, blinking a few times. Her entire body feels cold and strange.

Aang turns back. "Are you okay?"

Ka looks at her hands, and suddenly feels out of place. "Yes," she lies, and walks forward. "I'm okay."

* * *

When they meditate, they eventually enter the Spirit World, and Avatar Roku and Minder Divya meet them, each on their respective animal guides. Divya rides a bison, while Roku rides his dragon. They smile at them, and they climb onto their animal guides.

(Ka finds, that while she resides in the Spirit World, she feels unstoppable, and that she can do anything.)

* * *

The next morning, Zuko stares up at the hall of paintings of all the previous Fire Lords. His father is up there too—his face seems to bore down at him, burning with disappointment. His scar suddenly burns.

"It's never too early for a sitting with the court painter, Zuko," Azula says when she passes by, eyeing the portraits. "Make sure he gets your good side."

He ignores her comment. He finds he doesn't feel as angry as he probably would before. "Wait, I need to ask you something," he says instead, and Azula stops and turns towards him. "What do you remember about our great-grandfather's history?"

Azula sighs. "Oh, Zuko, it's so strange how your mind works." She looks over at Fire Lord Sozin's portrait and tilts her head. "Fire Lord Sozin began the war, of course. He spent his early years secretly preparing for it. He was as patient as he was clever. He famously waited for the comet, later renamed Sozin's Comet, and used its power to launch his full-scale invasion of the world." She puts her hands on her hips. "In the end, he died a very old and successful man."

"But _how_ did he die?" Zuko urges.

"Didn't you pay _any_ attention in school, Zuko?" Azula scoffs. "He died peacefully, in his sleep." She waves him off as she begins to walk away. "He was ancient."

* * *

In his anger and frustration on trying to decipher what the scroll means, Zuko accidentally tosses it onto a lantern and reveals its true script. The light from the lantern shines through a secret message: _The Fire Sages keep the secret history in the Dragonbone Catacombs._

Breaking into the catacombs is a lot easier said than done. Zuko sneaks past the Fire Sage patrolling and waits behind a pillar until nobody is around. It takes an hour or so. When he bends fire into the medallion by the secret passage (as he saw the Sages do before), a spiral staircase descends down into a dark chamber. He traverses down and walks up to a large, ornate door emblazoned with a sculpture of Fire Lord Sozin. After breaking through that door, he finds that inside is a room filled with artifacts and various vessels. A large statue of a dragon sits in the center—under its head, scrolls.

 _The final testimony of Fire Lord Sozin,_ is written on the dragon's base.

Zuko sits down and plucks the first scroll.

* * *

"Where're we going?" Aang asks, sitting on the back of Fang.

" _To visit our pasts,_ " Avatar Roku replies, turning back towards him and smiling. " _Our shared past._ "

" _Our destinies have been intertwined since the beginning of the Avatar,_ " Minder Divya says. " _But for now, we must tell you how the war begun, and what we have done to cause it._ "

* * *

 _As I feel my own life dimming, I can't help but think of a time when everything was so much brighter,_ says Fire Lord Sozin's scripture. _I remember my friend._

* * *

The first place their past lives take them is a lush Fire Nation courtyard, bathed in the beautiful sunlight. There are two Fire Nation boys firebending at one another, but, as things go in the Spirit World, neither of them can see the four people and two animal guides watching them from afar.

Ka sees one of the boys grin, and punch a fire blast so hard that the other trips over a nearby tree root and falls backwards. But before he can land on his back, the other boy grabs him by the shirt, lifting his fist with a serious expression as if to strike him down, but just grins and lets him fall.

"Looks like I win again, Roku," says one boy, victoriously. Ka looks between the older and younger Roku—she definitely sees a resemblance. She thinks he has not changed much.

"Are you kidding?" says younger Roku, taking the other boy's extended hand and rising to his feet. "The tree root did all the work." He smiles and pats his friend on his shoulders. "Nice one, Sozin."

Ka's eyes go wide. Aang shares her surprise: "You were friends with Fire Lord Sozin?"

" _Back then, he was just Prince Sozin,_ " replies Avatar Roku. He looks at the two boys wistfully. " _And he was my best friend._ "

The two boys begin to leave the courtyard, but what stops them is the sight of a pretty young Fire Nation lady walking past. Younger Roku's eyes trail after her and he blushes deeply, and grumbles at his friend's nudging and whisper of Say something to her. He rushes after the lady and raises his hand to get her attention, but he is suddenly overcome with embarrassment and falls back on the ground. Younger Sozin squats down next to him and starts sprinkling blades of grass on his face, as if he were dead.

Minder Divya snorts. Avatar Roku sends her a mild glare. " _Love is hard when you are young,_ " he says, pointedly ignoring the other woman.

"You don't have to tell me," Aang grumbles. Ka just looks away—it would be awkward for Zuko to suddenly appear to her while she is away from her body. Then she wonders if it could even happen, if it is a spiritual connection.

 _Whatever,_ she decides. Why waste her time thinking about him?

" _Don't worry,_ " Roku says, putting a hand on their shoulders, " _it gets better._ " Their past lives then turn and begin to walk a different direction. " _Now, come with me. We have a party to attend._ "

The scene suddenly switches to a lavish celebration on an outdoor courtyard. "Wait," Aang says, pausing, "whose party is it?"

" _Sozin and I shared many things,_ " Avatar Roku says, gesturing to his younger self, standing next to his friend with a smile, " _including a birthday._ "

The two friends walk down the stairs, and look into the crowd—which includes the lady younger Roku fancies. They blush at each other and the younger Avatar very nearly makes a fool of himself by falling down the stairs, but his friend catches him. All smiles go away and all is silent when a group of Fire Sages quietly enter the courtyard.

Prince Sozin hurries down the stairs, his face worried. "Did something happen to my father?"

"No, Prince Sozin," replies one Sage. "We are not here for you. We're here to announce the identity of the next Avatar." The crowd begins to whisper to each other in shock, and gasp when the Sages bow in front of younger Roku. "It is our honor to serve you, Avatar Roku."

All is still for a few moments. Younger Roku's jaw drops, bewildered. One by one, everyone in the crowd begins to bow. Prince Sozin looks between the Sages and his friend before kneeling before his friend.

"It is quite odd seeing the Fire Nation _not_ trying to kill the Avatar," Ka mutters, nearly to herself.

Avatar Roku catches her words. " _Much has changed in the last hundred years,_ " he sighs. " _It is our fault. Come._ " And he leads them to the next segment of the story.

* * *

 _Soon the day came when my friend Roku had to leave the Fire Nation and face his destiny as the Avatar._

(Zuko notes, that at these words, Fire Lord Sozin's writing begins to get shaky, as if overcome with emotion. He reads on.)

 _He needed to travel the world so he could meet his Minder, and master the other elements._

* * *

Prince Sozin enters the room of younger Roku, raising his eyebrows at his dejected face. "Hey," he calls, "why aren't you packed yet, _all-powerful Avatar?_ " His friend does not respond, and continues to stare down at his lap. Prince Sozin frowns, but then leaps into the room with a smile, attempting to punch his way through every bending technique. "Come on!" he urges. "Show me how it's done using all four kinds of bending."

"I started packing," says younger Roku, "but then the Fire Sages told me I won't need any worldly possessions anymore."

"Oh," Prince Sozin says, and sits down next to his friend.

"It happened so fast. Everything's gonna be different now."

A pause. Prince Sozin reaches up and removes his headpiece, before placing it in his friend's hands. "Here, hope you're at least allowed to have this."

"But this is a royal artifact!" younger Roku protests. "It's supposed to be worn by the crown prince!"

"I want _you_ to have it."

Younger Roku looks at the headpiece, and then smiles as he puts it atop his top knot and slides in the pin.

They share a hug. Ka never thought someone of the royal family could be so kind.

(She thinks of Zuko in Ba Sing Se, and scowls, hardly listening to her past lives as they take them to the next part of the story.)

* * *

They fly to the Southern Air Temple, and Aang beams with excitement.

"This was the first stop on my Avatar journey, " Avatar Roku explains, and he smiles at his Minder. "It was the place where I was trained to master airbending, and where I met Divya for the first time. "

A group of monks walk up, with a young Divya trailing behind them. Her head is shaved to show her tattoos, but her face is undeniably young and burning with beauty. She smiles at the young Roku, then bows to him.

"It is an honor to serve you, my Avatar," says the young Minder seriously, then she pauses. Young Divya then shoots straight up excitedly, her eyes wide. "You wanna go play some airball with me?"

"He must begin his training, pupil Divya," scolds a monk.

Divya pouts. Another monk leads the past Avatar away.

"Good to know _all_ Minders aren't super serious," Aang jokes, and Ka elbows him in the side.

" _I matured with age,_ " Divya sighs.

Avatar Roku turns to her with an amused look. " _You still retained some of your spirit in old age._ "

Minder Divya just looks down at herself. " _Literally, I'd say._ " She then leads them towards where a group of young airbender students are lined up, those of which include young Roku—who airbends his black hair towards the boy beside him. Young Divya stands with the monks teaching them, beaming, looking more like Aang than anything. " _This is where we met an old friend of yours,_ " Divya says to Aang, and smiles at the young boy next to young Roku. " _Monk Gyatso._ "

"No way!" Aang gasps.

They watch young Roku and young Gyatso fly around in the sky, performing some sort of trick called air-surfing—and wince when they crash. The smiles on their faces do not leave them, however, and they help each other up as the spirits watch from afar.

"That's amazing!" Aang exclaims, both happy and surprised. "I can't believe you were friends with Monk Gyatso just like I was!"

" _Some friendships are so strong,_ " say the past Avatar and Minder in unison, " _they can even transcend lifetimes._ "

* * *

They watch their past lives learn waterbending in the Northern Water Tribe, and earthbending in the Earth Kingdom.

Then they watch an adult Roku teach an adult Divya firebending, and their resounding duel is overwhelming. They use all four elements in their battle, a true display of their abilities. They eventually become one—forming into the _jiéhé_ they had seen all the way back at Avatar Roku's temple. Their fused eyes open, one white and the other orange—Ka feels a chill run down her spine—and they slowly swirl their arms above their head before exploding all four elements down each side of the rock they stand on.

This is the true power of a fully-recognized duo. This is what they could become (except their shared state is locked, and Ka has not been able to access that side of herself since Ba Sing Se).

 _Those separate states don't usually happen unless your other half is either dead, or you have not met them yet,_ she remembers Guru Pathik telling them. When they were struck down, she felt part of her being ripped out, and it _burned._ Aang died before she did. She knows this now—her lightning scar places itself a little lower on her back than her Avatar's.

She feels Divya put a hand on her shoulder. She suddenly sees visions of a young man in yellow robes, floating on a cloud and pulling fruit from a tree. It is gone as soon as it came.

* * *

 _Twelve long years passed before I saw my friend again,_ Zuko reads.

Is that how long it takes to master the elements? The Avatar and Ka—the _Minder_ —it had only taken them merely _months_ to master waterbending. Putting that aside, he reads on.

 _When Roku returned, he was a fully realized Avatar and had his Minder in tow. I had changed as well._

* * *

Watching the younger Roku walk into the throne room of the Fire Lord oh so casually strikes fear into Ka's heart. Nonetheless, she watches.

"Sozin!" young Roku calls, raising his arms happily as he walks down the long red carpet, towards the Fire Lord's throne. "Or should I say, Fire Lord!"

Young Sozin suddenly gets a serious look on his face. "Customarily, my subjects bow before greeting me," he says, rising and stepping down from his throne. Then he smiles. "But you're the exception."

Young Roku smiles back and they hug.

The Roku beside them gives a nostalgic sigh. " _After all these years, he was still my best friend._ " Their view suddenly changes to a wedding ceremony, and they stand behind the crowd. Ka is still unused to these quick changes in atmosphere, even after all of her years in the Spirit World. " _And a few months later, he was my best man._ "

With young Sozin on his right and young Divya on the bride's left, young Roku lifts his bride's veil and smiles at the sight that meets him. It reveals the face of the young girl he had liked in his teenage years.

"Roku, it's that girl who didn't even know you were alive!"

"Jeez, Aang," Ka sighs at his exclamation.

" _Ta Min,_ " Roku says her name. " _I was persistent. When love is real, it finds a way._ " The wedding ceremony ends and people clap as the newlyweds bow their heads. " _And being the Avatar, or the Minder for that matter, doesn't hurt your chances with the ladies, either._ "

"Remember that girl at the fortunetelling village?" Aang asks teasingly.

Ka feels her face heat up. "We should go back there one day."

"Just wait 'til we win the war!" Aang exclaims, smiling. "She'll _have_ to date you then!"

"I suppose," Ka lies. She is a fraud. Who would like _her?_

* * *

 _On wedding days, we look to the future with optimism and joy,_ Zuko reads. _I had my own vision for a brighter future._

* * *

During their wedding party, young Sozin leads his friend away to a secluded balcony, and the Roku beside them tenses up in anticipation. Ka reaches over and holds onto his arm as some form of comfort.

"What's on your mind?" comes young Roku's voice.

Sozin pauses, then raises his fist slightly. "I've been thinking hard about the state of the world lately."

Young Roku snorts and throws an arm over his friend's shoulder. "Sozin, it's my wedding! Have a cookie, dance with someone, lighten up!"

Sozin smiles a little. "I know, I know, but just... hear me out." His friend bows in agreement, and they look towards the sunset. "Right from the start, I was destined to be Fire Lord. And although we didn't always know it, you were destined to be the Avatar." Young Roku eyes him as he goes on, "It's an amazing stroke of fate we know each other so well, isn't it? Together, we could do... _anything._ "

"Yeah," says young Roku warily, "we could."

"Our nation is enjoying an unprecedented time of peace and wealth. Our people are happy, and we're so fortunate in so many ways."

Young Roku gives Sozin a concerned look. "Where are you going with this?"

"I've been thinking, we should share this prosperity with the rest of the world." Young Roku's eyes go wide in shock, as do Aang's and Ka's. "In our hands is the most successful empire in history. It's time we expanded it."

"No!" young Roku protests, and Ka puts a hand over her mouth. "The four nations are meant to be just that: _four._ "

"Roku, you haven't even stopped to consider the possibilities."

"There are no possibilities," young Roku cuts him off angrily. "This is the last I want to hear about this." He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and turns to storm off the balcony, leaving Sozin alone.

" _That was my first real test as the Avatar,_ " says Roku, his voice filled with regret. " _Unfortunately, it was many years before I learned that Sozin had gone ahead with his plan, despite my warning._ "

Their next stop on the story is an Earth Nation fortress, with a Fire Nation banner strewn over its original signal. Plumes of smoke rise from inside, and the sound to clanking metal rings through the air. Young Roku and young Divya hurriedly travel to the Fire Nation capital and burst through the doors of Fire Lord Sozin's throne room.

"We've seen the colonies, Sozin," young Roku says angrily, pointing at his friend.

"How _dare_ you occupy Earth Kingdom territory!" shouts Divya.

" _Hush,_ Minder," scolds Fire Lord Sozin, and the girl seethes. "Know your place." Then he turns his attention towards his old friend. "How dare _you,_ a citizen of the Fire Nation, address your Fire Lord this way. Your loyalty is to our nation _first._ Anything less makes you a traitor."

It is truly terrifying how quickly one can change, and how power can twist one's views so much. Ka wants to look away, but her gaze is locked onto the scene before her.

"Don't do this, Sozin," Roku warns. "Don't challenge me. It will only end badly. It's over."

He turns his back and the two of them begin to leave, but Fire Lord Sozin rises up in a rage and punches a powerful stream of fire in their direction. When it dissipates, the Avatar and Minder are nowhere to be seen. Blanking out, Fire Lord Sozin looks around, only to be attacked from both sides by young Roku and Divya, bursting from the ground beside him. They blast him with air, slamming him into the gates of the room. Divya earthbends a pillar of earth that sends him into the air and pins him by the back of his robes to the ceiling. She takes young Roku's hands and they fuse into one another, entering their shared state and minds, bringing their hands in front of their face and breaking every pillar of the throne room. The palace and everything surrounding it bursts into flames and becomes buried in rubble.

They separate, and rise in matching air spouts to meet Fire Lord Sozin's gaze.

"We are sparing you, Sozin," young Roku says. "I'm letting you go in the name of our past friendship. But I warn you," and his face turns dark, " _ever_ speak to my Minder like that again, or take a _single_ step out of line, it will result in your _permanent_ end."

Fire Lord Sozin glares at his old friend, no hint of any past love in his eyes. He drops his head eventually, and their past lives leave the palace without a trace—leaving behind a ruined throne room and a trapped Fire Lord.

The scene changes to nighttime, at Roku's home island, all the buildings intact. " _Sozin and I didn't speak or see each other for twenty-five years after our battle,_ " Roku explains. " _I spent most of my spare time here, at my home._ "

" _And I at the air temples,_ " explains Divya, letting out a quiet sigh, " _training the next generation of airbenders. I do regret not being here for this day._ "

" _It's not your fault,_ " Roku assures her, and they watch in horror as the volcano on their island begins to erupt in volcano and ash.

Smoke billows through the air and large fireballs fall from the sky, crashing into buildings and into the ground, setting the entire village ablaze. Villagers run through the streets, screaming, trying to escape the waves of lava and fire that reign chaos all around them. Roku slowly stops running, letting go of his wife's hand, letting her go on without him. She hesitates, but eventually runs off with the other villagers. Once Roku sees them enter into boats and flee, he airbends a huge dome around himself and begins climbing towards the violent volcano.

* * *

 _Roku's island was a hundred miles away. But I could still feel it rumbling and see the black plume of smoke._

Zuko can see it: screaming villagers running for the beach, fireballs destroying homes and lives, and lava at the center of it all.

 _I had never seen anything like this catastrophe._

* * *

Roku's attempts to fight the volcano work, if only for a short while. He earthbends a gigantic wall, riding it to meet the falling earth, and traps it in place. As soon as it halts, the volcano ejects a massive wave of lava, and the flow breeches the wall he had oh so meticulously created, and he has to flee to the bottom of the summit in a panic. He cuts into the earth to make a channel to divert the lava into the ocean, away from the village.

It works.

"This is amazing, Roku! You're battling a volcano, and you're winning!" Aang shouts.

" _Unfortunately, my success didn't last long, Aang. There was no way I could do it all._ "

" _Not without me,_ " Divya says, her voice full of guilt.

At the top of the volcano, the other side suddenly violently expels another wave of lava. Roku inhales quickly, blowing a powerful blast of air towards the lava, cooling and hardening it. He lands on it, covering his face with his sleeve and coughing when poisonous gas spouts to his right. He does his best to airbend the gas and lava way, and even enters the shared state to do so (Ka wonders just how Divya's body must be reacting to this), but even that proves to be in vain when the second volcano erupts.

Just when Roku begins to give up, Fire Lord Sozin appears, riding in on a blue dragon. "Need a hand, old friend?"

"Sozin?" Roku gasps.

"There's not a moment to waste."

Together, they bend the fire fountain down into the crater and cool the lava, as storm clouds roll in. Lightning blasts above Sozin, and the ground underneath him becomes unstable and rocks, nearly throwing him off the volcano. Roku earthbends a slab underneath him to catch him, and they look at each other, but the ground shakes violently and more ash and rock shoot from the volcano. They run.

"Don't breathe the toxic gas!" Roku calls, airbending a blast of it away from his friend's face. Suddenly, a spout erupts directly into his face, and he groans, stumbling back. His hands shake and he squeezes them tight. "It's too much." He falls to his knees and wheezes, looking up towards Sozin and holding out his hand. "Please..."

His friend merely stares at him, his face void of expression and his eyes blank of feeling. "Without you, all my plans are suddenly possible. I have a vision for the future, Roku."

And he climbs onto his dragon, and leaves his best friend to die.

Roku watches him leave helplessly, surrounded by toxic gas and ash and rock. He coughs some more, his eyes watering, and blinks a few times when Fang appears from the smoke. His dragon does not hesitate to wrap himself around his master as the rock avalanche from the volcano begins to tumble down the volcano and towards him. Just as the wave crashes over them, there is a bright light that bathes everything in white, and the next thing Aang and Ka are looking at is a baby crying and being held over the light.

"Who's..." Aang begins, but then pauses. "Wait, that's me, isn't it?"

The person holding the baby turns out to be _Divya,_ and she quickly puts the baby down before screaming in horrible pain, choking and coughing over herself and falling to her knees. The two people in the shadows rush to her sides, and baby Aang screams and kicks at the air, fat tears streaming down her face. Divya's pain is unbearable to watch, and she eventually collapses. The next sight they see is a group of Air Nomads bowing over a fallen Divya in her bed, her face pale and body lifeless.

" _One cannot survive without the other for long,_ " Divya murmurs softly.

Another bright light. They come to the Northern Water Tribe, and a woman sobs happily when the midwife holds up a baby girl with black hair and blue eyes.

Minder Ino. The one who would never discover her true self, not until long after death. _Not_ Minder Ka. She frowns, and looks down. "And that is not me."

" _Make sense of our past—_ " Roku.

" _—and you will bring peace—_ " Divya.

" _—and restore balance to the world._ " Unison.

Then they disappear without a trace. Aang and Ka look at each other, and take one another's hand, before walking into the whiteness after them.

* * *

 _With Roku and his meddling Minder gone, and the great comet returning, the timing was perfect to change the world._

Zuko can see it in his head. His great-grandfather standing before his soldiers and his ships, his armada, preparing to begin the war.

 _I knew the next Avatar would be born an Air Nomad. So I wiped out the Air Temples. The waterbending Minder would be useless without its Avatar, so I left it up to my soldiers to take away waterbenders and imprison them, just in case._

 _Somehow, the new Avatar eluded me. I wasted the remainder of my life searching in vain. I know he's hiding out there somewhere._

 _The Fire Nation's greatest threat... the last airbender._

The words on the scroll come to a close, and Zuko stares at its final words for a few moments before frowning. "That can't be it," he says aloud. "Where's the rest of it!?" He looks all around the scroll and even under it, as if there would be more there.

There is no more to the story. He frowns, enraged, and storms out of the room.

* * *

His uncle sits with his head down, finally facing the front, when he walks in.

"You sent this, didn't you?" he demands, holding the paper in front of the cell. "I found the secret history, which, by the way, should be renamed _history most people already know!_ " He tosses the note aside. "The note said that I needed to know about my great-grandfather's death, but he was still alive in the end!"

Uncle looks up, and his ghastly face startles Zuko. "No, he wasn't."

He blinks, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"You have more than one great-grandfather, Prince Zuko," informs Uncle. "Sozin was your father's grandfather." He pauses. "Your mother's grandfather was Avatar Roku."

Zuko blanches, shock rattling through his body. He inhales quickly through his teeth. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because understanding the struggle between your two great-grandfathers can help you better understand the battle within yourself." Zuko feels as if he is back in Ba Sing Se, in front of the Avatar's bison, his body wet from water and his form shivering in frustration. He sits in front of the cell, hanging his head. His uncle goes on, "Evil and good are always at war inside you, Zuko. It is your nature, your legacy. But, there is a bright side." He glances up. "What happened generations ago can be resolved now, by _you._ Because of your legacy, you alone can cleanse the sins of our family and the Fire Nation. Born in you, along with all the strife, is the power to restore balance to the world."

Uncle walks over to the wall of the cell, removing a brick and taking out a bundle. He unwraps it as he walks towards Zuko, revealing the headdress of both Fire Lord Sozin and Avatar Roku. "This is a royal artifact," he says softly, and holds it out. "It's supposed to be worn by the crown prince."

Zuko slowly takes it, and holds it in his hands, feeling its weight in his palms.

He must fix things. Behind him, he feels Ka staring into the back of his head. And not for the first time, he ignores her.

* * *

Aang and Ka tell them the story they had been shown. At the end, Katara looks as if she were about to cry.

"You mean, after all Roku and Sozin went through together," Katara asks in disbelief, "even after Roku showed him mercy, Sozin betrayed him like that?"

"It's like these people are _born_ bad," Toph deadpans.

"No, that's wrong," Aang argues. "I don't think that was the point of what Roku and Divya showed us at all."

Sokka shrugs. "Then what _was_ the point?"

"Avatar Roku was just as much Fire Nation as Fire Lord Sozin," Ka says.

"If anything, their story proves _anyone's_ capable of great good and great evil," Aang continues, nodding at her.

"Everyone," they say in unison, " _even_ the Fire Lord and the Fire Nation, have to be treated like they're worth giving a chance."

"And I also think it was about friendships," Aang finishes, smiling brightly.

Sokka raises an eyebrow at Ka. "Second chances, huh? For the Fire Nation? "

"Do not," she warns darkly.

"I'm just sayin'!" Sokka says casually, holding up his hands. "I mean, really, did _Zuko_ give you another chance in Ba Sing Se?"

"Zuko?" Katara asks quickly, her voice turning angry. She whirls her head to look at Ka. "What about Zuko?"

"I will hurt you," Ka threatens.

Sokka just shrugs again.

"Do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?" Toph asks, effectively changing the subject.

Aang walks over and catches her hand. "I don't see why not." Ka senses a bit of foreshadowing.

Katara grabs her other hand with a smile. Ka takes Aang's hand, and looks over at her friends.

"Well, scientifically speaking, there's no way to prove that—"

"Oh, Sokka, just hold hands."

A pause. Sokka's hand shoots out to grasp Katara's.

And so, they stand there, connected by their palms, and Ka can feel the energy flowing between them like time itself.

( _Yes,_ she thinks. _They will be friends for lifetimes._ )

In the corner of her eye, she sees Zuko watching her. She turns her head to look at him, and he slowly nods at her.

"Katara," Ka then says aloud, not breaking her gaze with him. "I would like to introduce you to someone."

* * *

"I _told_ you," Ka urges when Katara snaps at her, "I cannot control it."

"Well, figure it out!" her friend all but shouts. "I don't want _Zuko_ to be hanging around us while we plan _you know what!_ "

"Is he here right now?" Toph asks, her face disinterested.

Ka glances around herself. "He disappeared as soon as you began shouting."

"Good!" she continues to shout. "Oh, and when were you planning on telling us about all these _things_ between you and Zuko?"

Ka blinks. _Is this a trick question?_ "Um. Right now?"

Katara lets out an exasperated shout. "You _betrayed_ us! Hanging out with _Zuko?_ Talking to him even _after_ what he did to me?"

"To _you?_ " Ka echoes, incredulous. "Maybe take a step back, Katara, and realize just what _I_ have been through."

" _What!?_ "

"We died," she says slowly. "We were killed, by Zuko's sister, and there was a very great chance we would not come back."

"I saved you," Katara says, clenching her fists.

"You did," Ka agrees, "and I am very thankful for that, but I am so _tired_ of you all treating me like I have _betrayed_ you!"

"Hey, whoa now," Aang tries to intervene, but for once, Ka does not listen to her Avatar's words.

"I tried to _befriend_ Zuko so he could become our firebending master," Ka says, her voice getting louder and louder. "There is _no_ firebender who would have taught us! And after everything we did together, after how he—" She pauses, and takes a deep breath, swallowing to alleviate the burning in her throat. "I thought he would. I truly believed he would come to us and teach us. But then he turns around, _attacks_ us, and lets his sister murder my Avatar and I without saying a _word!_ " She is all but screaming now, her eyes watering. "He trusted me with his past and I trusted him with mine, only to _die!_ And then the universe decides to _mock_ me by creating a spiritual connection between us, so I can _never_ be truly free! He betrayed me too, Katara! I have done _nothing_ but stay loyal to my Avatar and be your friend, but all I get in return is accusations." Ka lifts her hands to wipe at her eyes—she has been sobbing this entire time. "I am sorry, for what I have done and the mistakes I have made. But this is my first time in the physical world." She sniffles, and lifts her head to give Katara a miserable, teary look. "So _please._ Give me a break."

With that, she turns and walks off, her eyes and throat burning and her head pounding.

* * *

She sits alone behind a black rock for a very long time, until the sun begins to set over the water. Then a few feet away from her appears Zuko, staring at her with a strange look.

"My uncle showed me something that made me realize some things," he says slowly, and looks down into his lap. "I think I've made some really big mistakes."

Ka wants to laugh, but her throat burns too much to even make a sound. She brings her knees to her chest and stares out at the water.

Zuko clenches his fist, trembling. "I don't feel like myself. I don't feel like _anything._ I thought having my father's love again would fix everything. But it doesn't compare to yours."

 _My love,_ Ka thinks, and turns her head a little to look at him.

He stares right at her. "There must be a reason we keep seeing each other," he says, and looks at his hands. "Even if it's just some accidental spirit magic on your part."

Ka thinks for a moment. She suddenly gets an idea, a plan, but would need the rest of her friends' permission to carry it through. She opens her mouth to speak, but no sound comes out, and she grimaces. Zuko looks as if he is about to say something, but a call of Ka's name interrupts, and Zuko's eyes widen when Katara comes walking out from around the corner.

"Um," Katara starts, looking anywhere but her. "We're leaving."

Ka pauses, then nods, rising to her feet and brushing off her skirt. She starts to walk past Katara, but the latter grabs onto her arm and whirls her around.

"Wait," she says, and takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I should have realized how everything has been making you feel." She scratches behind her head. "It's kind of easy to forget you get upset when you're so serious all the time."

Ka's eyebrow twitches. "I—" she begins, then clears her throat. "I am not emotionless."

"I know," Katara says, lowering her head. "I'm going to be more considerate of your feelings in the future. Feel free to yell at me again if I don't."

"... Alright," Ka says slowly.

"You're pretty terrifying when upset," Katara says, her voice lightening. "You must've scared the pants off Zuko back in Ba Sing Se."

Ka glances behind Katara, where Zuko stands and watches them with unreadable eyes. "Perhaps," she murmurs.

"I don't think you betrayed us," Katara says sincerely. "I was just... upset. I guess that's why you don't really tell us things."

"I should have told you." It hurts to speak, but she does anyway. "I was afraid of how you would react."

"I don't blame you," Katara sighs, and then smiles at her, holding out her hand. "C'mon. The others are waiting on us."

Ka hesitates before taking it, and leaves Zuko behind as they walk towards the rest of their friends together.

* * *

("He was behind us the whole time, wasn't he?" Katara asks as they soar through the sky.

Ka nods. "But, it is not as if he can do anything to us. It is like a ghost."

"Have you tried to touch him?"

"I have punched him."

"Nice.")

* * *

It becomes apparent that Katara's anger over recent events does not totally go away—it only shifts to a different focus.

As of right now, Toph is both the focus and the victim of her anger.

They stop near a body of water to do some more practice and training with waterbending and earthbending. Aang and Ka are blindfolded with their respective headbands (lucky them for accidentally choosing the same Fire Nation uniform), and are left with nothing but their still-developing seismic sense to dodge the ground attacks from Toph and their sense of hearing to dodge the water attacks from Katara.

Toph ends up launching a boulder at them, but they burrow into the ground to avoid it—the boulder hits Katara instead, and she falls backwards, the water falling from her hands and back into the river.

Katara shuffles to her feet with a glare. "Maybe you should take your own advice, Toph!"

"What's the matter?" Toph taunts. "Can't handle some dirt, Madame Fussy-Britches?"

There is a moment of silence, then there is the sound of splashing and groaning. "Oh, sorry," Katara taunts back. "Did I splash you, _Mud-Slug?_ "

There is another pause, followed by the sound of rough bending and a crash.

"Are we taking a break?" Aang calls.

Ka senses someone sneaking up behind them, and waits until someone comes running towards them, Sokka's voice screaming, "Sneak attack!" She rolls her eyes underneath her blindfold and bends an earth wall behind the two of them, hearing the thud of Sokka's body hitting it.

"Sneak attacks are useless if you scream it aloud," she sighs, trying to hide the upward twitching of her mouth, lowering the earth wall and raising her blindfold to peek one eye down at him.

Sokka just groans from his place on the ground.

Sometime between their sparring and Sokka trying to sneak up on them, Katara and Toph have engaged in a wrestling match in a large puddle of mud, kicking dirt and bending at one another.

"Uh, guys," Aang says awkwardly, interrupting their battle. "I thought we were supposed to be training me and Ka."

Katara takes a few steps forward, smacking her hands against each other as if to try and rid them of mud, despite her entire body being coated in it. "Very well, pupils," she says calmly. "I believe we've had enough training for today."

She turns and begins to walk away, and Toph leans into view with a grin, earthbending the mud off herself and saying, "While Katara cleans up, let's go have some fun!"

"Yeah!" Aang and Sokka cheer in unison, throwing their arms up in the air as Toph excitedly runs over to them.

They begin to run towards the nearby town, but Ka hesitates, looking back where Katara walked away. She is tempted to go after her, but then Toph shouts out _You comin', Goddess?_ and Aang gives her an expectant look, so she relents and chases after her friends, pushing her blackened bangs in front of her eyes and pulling the ends of her sleeves over her wrists.

* * *

The town they ended up stopping near is called Fire Fountain City, and in its center is a large metal statue of Fire Lord Ozai, flames roaring from his fists and mouth. It is unsettling; Ka avoids looking at it.

They walk past a large coop, and Sokka grins at the sight of all the hawks stored inside, ready for sale.

"Look at all those messenger hawks!" he exclaims, pointing. "You know, I've been thinking about getting one for myself. That way, I wouldn't have to talk to anyone. I could just send them messages."

"Sounds inconvenient," Ka deadpans.

"Though I gotta say," Toph comments, "I like the idea of not talking to you."

Sokka glares at her, though it is lighthearted.

"So, guys," Aang says, holding up a silver piece, "what are we gonna get with our last silver piece?"

Toph suddenly stops walking. "We can get more money," she says, and they all turn around to look at her. "Right there." She points at an area beneath them, down in the lower areas of the town. Ka leans over to see a group of people huddled around a small table.

They all head down there, somewhat hiding behind the group to keep from being spotted. On the table is three upside-down shells, and the man that holds the shells grins at the man across from him. The customer slaps money on the table and the scam artist lifts the shells to reveal that the middle one has some sort of rock underneath it. Then he places them back down and begins to shuffle them around.

"This is where you seeing people are at a disadvantage," Toph explains. "Everyone guesses wrong because the dealer moves the rock at the last minute." Then, she grins. "But I can feel it with my earthbending."

The shuffling of the shells stop, and the gambler glances between them before pointing at the middle one. The scam artist lifts it to reveal nothing, and the gambler stands before walking away crying.

Ka blinks. When had he moved the rock?

A few more people leave with the gambler, and the scam artist's eyes widen when he sees Toph, and then stares directly into her eyes.

"You there," he calls. "Wanna play a friendly game?"

Toph tilts her head to the side. "How can I possibly play?" she asks with faux innocence, and waves her hand in front of her face. "I'm blind."

The scam artist grins. "You don't have to see to be lucky."

Toph helplessly falls to her knees and feels around the ground until she gets to the table, and then places their last silver piece on it. The scam artist shows the rock under the shell in the middle, believing her to not be able to see it, and moves them around. Toph then smiles slyly, and when the scam artist stops, she points to her left. A rock is underneath—it wins her two silver pieces.

"Flamey-o, Toph!" Aang exclaims.

"Wow," the scam artist feigns surprise. "Fancy guessing. You're _amazing_ at this." He plays with a few silver pieces in his hands. "Would you like to make the game a little more interesting?"

"More interesting?" Toph echoes. "How?"

"Well," the scam artist hums, pointing at Sokka's sword, "let's say you toss in your friend's fine sword there," he grabs a large bag of money and holds it in his lap, "then I'll put up twenty silver pieces against it, and that's more interesting."

Toph grabs Sokka's sword without hesitation. "I'll do it for forty silver pieces!"

"Forty silver pieces it is," agrees the scammer, and he drops more money into the bag with a grin. Sokka watches the exchange with a dropped jaw—Ka almost reaches over and closes it for him.

The scam artist begins to move the rocks again, but Ka watches as Toph clenches her fist underneath the table, presumably bending to her advantage. Then he stops, and she smiles before pointing at the middle shell.

"Sorry, little lady," tuts the scam artist, beginning to lift the shell, "but—" He looks underneath the shell, and stares at the rock in confusion and surprise. "Huh?"

"I won!" Toph shouts excitedly, throwing her arms in the air. She grabs the bag of money, Sokka his sword, and they run off before the scam artist can say anything else.

* * *

They buy baskets of food and other goods with the money they scammed, and Ka is somewhat elated to say that she feels happy, and more alive than she has been as of late. She drops down one of the baskets beside Katara, as she cooks something in a boiling pat.

She stares at it. "Where did you guys get the money to buy all this stuff?"

"Toph got us money!" Aang replies, grabbing an apple and taking a bite out of it. "She scammed one of those guys in town who moves the shells around all sneaky-like," he then explains, using his arms to demonstrate.

Sokka sits down beside him. "She used earthbending to win the game! Classic!"

"Ah," Katara realizes, "so she cheated."

Toph pauses mid-bite. "Hey!" she protests. "I only cheated because _he_ was cheating!" Then she smiles. "I cheated a cheater. What's wrong with that?"

"I'm just saying this isn't something we should make a habit of doing."

"Why? Because it's _fun?_ And you _hate_ fun?"

"I don't hate fun!" Katara reaches over towards Momo and places him on her head like a hat, pointing at him and grinning unconvincingly. "See? Fun!" Momo screeches and slips off her head, scurrying into Ka's lap.

"Katara," Aang says, standing and lifting his headband to reveal his tattoo. "I'll personally make you an Avatar Promise that we won't make a habit of doing these scams."

Everyone looks to Ka.

She sighs, and raises her right hand. "Hear, hear."

* * *

It ends up being a total lie.

Toph earthbends more games to win even more money. The first is some sort of die-tossing the game, the second is a test-your-strength game, and the third turns out to be an elaborate scheme where they trick a noble into thinking he killed a little girl (Toph), and he bribes a guard (Sokka) to keep him quiet. The bribe ends up being twelve small bags of gold and silver coins.

Ka does not actively involve herself in the scams, but holding large sums of money and watching them be held is more entertaining than she cares to admit.

During the second game, Zuko appears next to her when she finds herself smiling at Toph's dramatic display of strength.

"You look like you're having fun," he says, staring at her face.

"More than I have had in a while," she says, and then he disappears.

In the end, they make more money than they know what to do with.

"Guys, I think these scams have gone _far_ enough," Katara tries to reason. "If you keep dong them, something bad is gonna happen."

Toph groans. "Could you for _once_ stop being such a sourpuss and just lighten up?" She tosses some money into Katara's hands.

Katara looks at the money in her palm for a few moments before frowning. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she begins to raise her voice. "You think I should be more like _you?_ Like some _wild child?_ " She throws the money back at her, but it falls on the ground.

"Yeah!" Toph shouts back. "Maybe! Maybe then you'd see how _great_ we have it! I mean, look at us!" She leans back on the rock behind her and folds her arms behind her head casually. "We're traveling around the world! Making easy money! Having fun! With _no_ parents to tell us what to do!"

Katara pauses. " _Ah,_ I see," she then says. "You're acting like this because of your _parents._ "

"Whatever."

"They were controlling over you, so you ran away, and now you act like your parents don't exist. You act like you hate them, but you don't. You just feel guilty."

Ka frowns deeply. She does not think Katara has the right to analyze Toph's behavior and put her out in the spotlight like this, not now, when her anger has dissolved her patience.

"I _do_ hate them," Toph urges, looking away.

"I don't think so," Katara counters. "I think you _miss_ them, but you just don't wanna deal with that, so instead you act like this crazy person!"

Toph stands up, overcome with anger. "Look, I ran away to help Aang and Ka!"

"You know what?" Katara scoffs. "It doesn't matter. These scams put us _all_ at risk, and we don't need that." She looks over at Ka with a frown. "You're supposed to be the mediator, aren't you? Spirits are peaceful and patient?"

Ka puts her hands up defensively. "Nothing has been peaceful and patient as of lately, now has it?"

A flash of guilt wipes across Katara's face, but it quickly vanishes. She groans and shakes her hands, then points to her forehead. "Whatever! We've already got some third-eyed freak after us; we don't need any more trouble!"

Sokka pops up behind them. "Speaking of that _third-eyed freak,_ " he butts in, interrupting the tension, "I think I've come up with a name for him. What do you think of _Sparky Sparky Boom Man?_ " Silence. "Just think about it."

Katara turns her anger back on Toph. "We have enough money! You _need_ to stop this!"

"I'll stop when I wanna stop and not when you tell me!" Toph protests, and earthbends a bag of money into her hand. She stomps off angrily and sits in an isolated area before creating an earth tent around herself.

"Speaking of money," Sokka says, grabbing another bag of money and his sword, "I'm off to spend some. See you guys later."

"Messenger hawk?" Ka guesses, raising her eyebrows.

Sokka shushes her quickly. "It's a secret!" he stage-whispers, then sneaks away.

* * *

Sokka comes back with a messenger hawk and a wanted poster for _The Runaway._ It bears a scarily accurate resemblance to Toph.

Toph bribes Sokka into keeping the poster a secret, but when she goes to give Ka money, the latter just declines the offer with a I will not tell, just perhaps use a disguise next time you scam.

In the end, Katara finds out anyway.

While Toph and Sokka are out scamming, Katara goes through her things and finds the poster, confronting her about it when they return. Ka cannot be bothered to pay attention to most of the fight, resigning to lay on Aang's back lazily, picking at a strand of her blackened hair.

"Oh, really, _Mom?_ " she hears Toph say sarcastically when she fades back into the conversation. "Or what are you gonna do? Send me to my room?"

"I wish I could!"

"Well, you _can't!_ Because you're _not_ my mom, and you're not _their_ mom!" Toph is pointing at the three of them now, and Aang and Ka just glance at each other.

"I never said I was!"

"No," Toph continues, "but you certainly _act_ like it! You think it's your job to boss everyone around, but it's _not!_ You're just a regular kid like the rest of us! So stop acting like you can tell me what to do! I can do _whatever_ I want!"

"I don't act that way!" Katara protests, then looks over at her brother, who flinches. "Sokka, do I act motherly?"

Sokka puts his hands up. "Hey, I'm stayin' out of this one."

She then looks at Aang. "What do you think, Aang? Do I act like a mom?"

Aang scoots up a little, and Ka grunts against him. Rubbing at his eye, Aang mumbles out, "Well, I—uh—"

"Stop rubbing your eye and speak clearly when you talk!"

Aang then snaps straight up with a call of _Yes, ma'am,_ knocking Ka in the back of her head with his shoulder bones. She groans, holding her head, feeling it throb underneath her palm. _Sorry,_ Aang mouths.

"I can't be around you right now!" Toph groans, turning and walking away.

"Well, I can't be around you!"

They both walk to opposite sides of their cliffside camp, their backs to one another. Sokka sighs and rests his head in his hands—from his shoulder, his messenger hawk screeches.

"I know, Hawky," he sighs. "Why can't they just get along?"

* * *

A little later, the two girls are still ignoring one another, and Sokka gets the brilliant idea to use his new messenger hawk to bring them back together.

"I'm going to send a note to Katara and say it's from Toph," Sokka whispers into their ears, "who wants to apologize. Then everyone will be friends again."

"Are you serious?" Ka scoffs, simply taken aback by the stupidity of it all.

"Isn't she blind?" Zuko suddenly asks from beside her.

"I gotta say, Sokka, you continue to impress me with your ideas," says Aang, nodding in approval.

" _Aang,_ " Ka scolds, putting her hands on her hips.

"It's a gift," Sokka says proudly, and pulls out ink and a piece of paper, speaking aloud what he writes. "'Dear Katara, sorry for everything. Your friend, Toph'."

"Is this actually happening right now?" Ka asks to nobody in particular, holding her hands up in the air.

Sokka positions his hawk on his arm and places the note in its message holder. The hawk flies over to Katara, and she takes the note out, reads it, then stands up angrily. "I know this is from _you,_ Sokka!" she shouts. "Toph can't _write!_ " She tears the note into pieces. "Ugh! You're all driving me crazy!" She stomps off and Sokka's hawk flies away from her in a fright.

"I can't believe we forgot Toph can't write," Aang says, his shoulders slumping.

"Yup, we're idiots."

"I guess Plan B is we send a note to Toph pretending it's from Katara."

Ka cannot even. She slaps her hands against her thighs in exasperation and then just walks away, unwilling to hear anymore of her friends' awful ideas.

"Your friends don't seem..." Zuko says, picking up the pace to walk beside her. "... very _smart_ with their ideas."

Ka sighs and crosses her arms, looking towards the water. "Do not imply that you have never had foolish ideas in the past," she says, and raises her eyebrows at him. "Hiring pirates to capture us?"

Zuko blushes, and glances to the side. "I... okay, well, that was a long time ago."

"Not that long," Ka disagrees, and sighs. "Imagine if they managed to keep us. They would have sold me."

" _What?_ "

Ka looks at him. "Unique features, no? One of them said I would fetch a high price on the market."

Zuko suddenly looks enraged. "I guess it was a stupid idea," he says, clenching his fists. "They were hired by Zhao to kill me."

It is now Ka's turn to be shocked. " _What?_ " she asks.

"Yeah," is all he says about it. "I guess we've all made stupid mistakes."

Ka just nods, not wanting to say any more. She hugs herself and watches the light reflect off the water. Her black hair blows into her face—she misses her white hair.

"I've made one big mistake lately."

She turns to him with a confused look, furrowing her brows. He is suddenly very close to her, looking both conflicted and very serious.

Zuko's voice is soft when he says, "I made a mistake in betraying you." He looks like he wants to reach out and touch her, but makes an aborted hand motion and instead clenches his fists at his sides. "I regret it. It's not—I don't feel _right_ in the Fire Nation," he admits. "I want to make it right. Tell me how to make it right."

Out of the corner she sees Aang walking towards her. "I do not think _now_ is the time to discuss this," she says in a rough whisper.

"Who are you—" Aang starts, but then stops, looking at the (to him) empty space beside Ka. "Oh. Hi, Zuko."

"Hey," Zuko greets back, even though Aang cannot even hear them.

Ka resists the urge to hide her face. This is all horribly awkward.

"He's not gonna tell his dad we're alive, right?" Aang then asks Ka, gesturing to Zuko with wiggling fingers.

"No," Ka replies firmly, before Zuko can even open his mouth, and then looks at him with hard eyes, "he will not."

"About that—" Zuko starts to say, but he is then cut off by Aang.

"Oh, nice," Aang says casually, and it shocks Ka just how easily he accepts these things, "so, is he on our side now?"

"On our side—?"

"Yes," Zuko cuts her off, and she stares at him with wide, incredulous eyes.

" _What?_ " she scoffs. "So easily?"

"A lot of things have happened since I've been home," Zuko says seriously. "My father, my sister, Mai, Uncle..." He looks down at the ground. "I've realized where my true destiny lies. Do you remember what you asked me in Ba Sing Se?"

 _To be their firebending teacher._ Ka remembers every detail very well. She blinks a few times. "You cannot be serious."

"I can't hear anything he's saying, y'know," Aang reminds happily.

"He wishes to be our firebending instructor," Ka says hesitantly. "He has claimed he has realized where his true path lies."

Aang blinks a few times, a parallel of his Minder's reaction. "Oh, I don't know how the others would feel about that," he finally says, shaking his head.

"I can help," Zuko urges.

"No," Ka then says, shoving him away from her. " _No._ Go away. I do not wish to talk about this anymore."

"Ka, wait—"

" _Leave!_ " She puts her hands over her ears and squeezes her eyes shut, staying like that for a few moments until she feels no presence but the constant one beside her. Looking over her shoulder, Zuko is gone, and she exhales slowly.

"He can't get to us in time before the invasion," Aang says. "We'll defeat the Fire Lord without firebending, right? We'll be fine."

She is filled with dread. "Right," she agrees. "We will be fine."

* * *

Something happens between Toph and Katara while Aang spends the rest of the day comforting and hanging out with Ka. Night falls, and Aang is in the middle of braiding her blackened hair when Toph and Sokka come walking up towards the camp, Katara rushing up towards them immediately.

Ka holds her breath, anticipating another fight, but Katara merely opens with, "Hi, Toph. Um, I wanna—"

Toph quickly puts her hand up to halt her. "Katara, stop. You don't need to apologize. I was the one being stupid. These scams are out of control, and I'm done with them."

Katara smiles. "Actually I wasn't going to apologize," she says, and puts her hands behind her back. "I was gonna say... I wanna pull a scam with you."

Aang is so surprised he yanks on Ka's hair. She shouts in pain, and turns to glare at him. Aang gives her an apologetic look before turning towards Katara with an extremely shocked look, mirroring Sokka's expression, as well.

"What?" Toph asks, her eyes wide. " _You_ wanna pull a scam?"

"Not just any scam," Katara says. "The _ultimate_ scam." Aang and Sokka promptly faint, taking Ka's hair down with them. Katara moves to put an arm around Toph's shoulder. "Whaddaya say, Toph? Just me and you. One last go. You in?"

"You _know_ I'm in!" Toph exclaims, excited. "Now what's this idea of yours?"

* * *

Their plan is to turn Toph in and collect the reward, then bust her out of jail and be on their way.

A good one in theory, but it appears to be taking them a long time. Ka feels as if something has happened, and she frowns.

"Do you think this scam of theirs should take this long?" she asks aloud, picking at her nails worriedly.

"I was just wondering the same thing," Sokka agrees, and rises to his feet, looking at Hawky and Momo pointedly. "You two behave. Appa's in charge."

The animals begin fighting, but they ignore it, and rush off towards the town.

* * *

When they get there, Fire Fountain City has lost its liveliness and seems abandoned. They run across the streets, only to find nothing but dust.

"Where do you think they might be?" Sokka calls.

"Where do you think _anyone_ is?" Aang calls back.

Ka looks behind her when she hears a sudden inhale, and she gasps aloud when she sees the third-eyed assassin standing on one of the rooftops. "Watch out!" she shouts, grabbing her friends' and rolling behind the fountain, just barely dodging a blast from him.

"It's Sparky Sparky Boom Man!" Aang cries.

"Y'know, I'm starting to think that name doesn't quite fit," Sokka says thoughtfully.

The assassin jumps from the roof and fires another blast, the sound of it almost deafening. They do not manage to dodge quite as quickly, and get sent flying by the impact. They skid across the ground and Ka groans when the rough surface of the town scratches up her elbows, but she ignores it and instead helps her friends to their feet as they run away. Another blast sends them crashing into a wheelbarrow.

"This guy is too good!" Sokka shouts. "He shoots fire from his _brain!_ "

"We should split up," Aang suggests. "He can't chase all three of us."

Ka wrinkles her nose. "I have a feeling he is after us two _specifically,_ " she says, but Aang just shrugs and runs off in a different direction.

Sokka runs off to the right, and Ka just rolls her eyes before ducking behind an alleyway and making her way back to the main square. Above her, she sees Aang darting across the rooftops, and he ends up accidentally catching the assassin's attention when he runs right past him. He quickly turns and fires another blast, and the unsuspecting Aang screams when it sends him flying into the statue of Fire Lord Ozai. He slams against it with a loud, resounding smack and slides down the side of it, crumbling to the ground. Katara and Toph, both looking incredibly sweaty, suddenly rush up with Sokka in tow. Aang then looks up, his eyes widening at the sight of the assassin right in front of him. He inhales, but before he can fire another blast, Ka stomps her foot on the ground and twists her wrists to encase his head in ice. The assassin stumbles out of the way, and Aang beams when he sees his friends. Ka smirks at him.

"Aang, get up!" Katara shouts, and runs over to help him to his feet.

"Let's get out of here!" Toph says.

The assassin breaks out of the ice with brute force and fires another blast, but Toph launches a boulder directly at the beam of fire, blowing the boulder up. A pebble from the boulder hits him square in his third eye, causing him to stumble backwards and groan, holding his head. He inhales quickly, trying to fire again, but the disorientation from the hit ignites the air around him and he gets sent backwards, head-first into a wall.

Ka watches the events happen with a muffled laugh.

Still running, Sokka calls out, "Hey, I got it! The perfect name for that guy: Combustion Man! "

"Good job, Sokka," Toph says. "Now let's get outta here before Combustion Man catches us."

"See? It fits so well!"

* * *

They fly elsewhere to avoid any more encounters with the assassin after them. After the events of today, it becomes clear to Ka that they are after her and Aang specifically.

So he must know. She frowns at her revelation.

Beside her, Zuko sits next to her almost radiating with guilt. She decides not to delve into the meaning of that deeper.

(She feels it will only anger and upset her more.)

* * *

 **so we didn't get to the puppetmaster in this chapter. apologies.**

 **anyway, i have the invasion chapters planned. next chapter will be both the puppetmaster and nightmares and daydreams. chapter 18 will be the invasion. expect for this story to deviate away from canon. it will not go the way it does in the show.**


	18. season three: episodes 8-9

**(i've changed my username to chaosbarnes, as well as my profile picture. just so you all are aware.)**

* * *

"Suddenly, they heard something down the hall in the dark..." comes Sokka's voice, the light from their campfire illuminating his face rather dramatically; Ka is hardly paying attention. " _Oooh..._ it came into the torchlight... and they knew the blade of Wing Fung was haunted!" To emphasize, he stands, withdraws his sword and points it to the fire, making what he apparently believes are ghostly sounds.

His story is met with a few moments of silence. Aang is lying down next to Ka, Katara is hunched in a sitting position, her face turned into a frown, and Toph sits casually against a tree, snickering quietly to herself.

"I think I like the _man with a sword for a hand_ better," Aang drawls.

"Water Tribe slumber parties must stink," Toph says.

"No, wait!" Katara quickly says. "I've got one! And this is a true Southern Water Tribe story."

Sokka frowns and moves to sit. "Is this one of those _a friend of my cousin knew some guy that this happened to_ stories?"

"No," Katara says seriously, turning her head, "it happened to Mom."

With her words, Sokka goes stiff. He pauses, then stares at his sister intensely. Aang sits up to listen, and Ka looks towards her as Katara begins her story:

"One winter when Mom was a girl, a snowstorm buried the whole village for weeks. A month later, Mom noticed she hadn't seen her friend Nini since the storm. So Mom and some others went to check on Nini's family. When they got there, no one was home. Just a fire flickering in the fireplace. While the men went out to search, Mom stayed in the house. When she was alone, she heard a voice." Katara then shifts her voice to say, in a high-pitched, spooky tone, " _It's so cold, and I can't get warm!_ " Sokka stiffens in reply, and Katara goes on, "Mom turned and saw Nini standing by the fire. She was blue like she was frozen. Mom ran outside for help, but when everyone came back, Nini was gone."

Aang covers his face with Momo's ears. Sokka hides behind a gnarled tree stump. Toph and Ka just look at one another with wide eyes (or, at least, as well as Toph could look at anyone).

"Where'd she go?" Sokka then asks, his voice shaky.

"No one knows," Katara replies, and wraps her arms around herself more tightly. "Nini's house stands empty to this day, but sometimes, people see smoke coming up from the chimney, like little Nini is still trying to get warm."

Ka processes her words, then frowns, and looks at the ground. "How awful," she murmurs. To die so young, and so cold, and to never cross over as a spirit. It must be painful.

"How about you?" Katara asks her.

Ka looks up with furrowed eyebrows. "Me?"

"Oh, yeah," Sokka says, stepping out from behind the tree stump. "You must have some pretty freaky stories from the Spirit World, right?"

 _Freaky stories?_ she almost repeats, but her mouth hangs open in disbelief. "You fear spirits that much?" she asks softly. When her question is met with silence, she goes on to say, "We spirits are naturally passive—until we are provoked, and angered. We exist to protect the natural world and provide for it, but when the beings of that natural world disrespect us in return, _that_ is when we take action—action that you seem to call _horror stories._ "

There is another few moments of silence. "Sorry," Sokka then says.

Ka just shakes her head. "It is alright. I know it is hard to understand spirits sometimes." She pauses, and then lets out a soft exhale. "Nothing in the Spirit World could ever be as fearful as witnessing someone's face be stolen right from them."

Her friends just stare at her—she is sure that by now, at least, they are well aware of just what she has been through. Some may have figured out, while another few, she has told directly. To be the child of Koh the Face Stealer, and to take a step in another's fate and take their identity completely... one could not imagine—

The shuffling of Toph and the sound of her slamming her palm on the forest ground causes Ka to flinch and lose her train of thought. All other thoughts of her past are cast aside when Toph then exclaims, "I hear people under the mountain. And they're screaming."

Sokka laughs, assuming she is joking. "Pft! Nice try, Toph."

"No, I'm serious. I hear something."

Ka glances around the tree branches, trying to listen for any sort of noise, or feel for any sort of disturbance.

"You're probably just jumpy from the ghost stories..." Katara suggests nervously.

There is a beat of silence. Then, "It just... stopped."

Aang wraps his arms around Katara and Ka. "Alright," he admits, "now I'm getting scared."

"Hello, children."

Everyone screams in terror at the sudden, strange voice and they all begin to run off in another direction. However, an elderly women emerges from the shadows with a smile on her fast.

"Sorry to frighten you," she says, and they all stop to look at her. "My name is Hama. You children shouldn't be out in the forest by yourselves at night. I have an inn nearby. Why don't you come back there for some spiced tea and warm beds?"

Before Ka can refute, Sokka sheepishly scratches the back of his head and replies, "Yes, please."

The rest of the group follows her when she smiles and begins walking the other direction, but Ka can only wonder just what this woman was doing in the forest in the first place, to find them here, so deep inside.

 _Oh, well,_ she eventually relents. It must be none of her business.

* * *

Hama's inn resides in a village, on top of a small hill. She takes them into the kitchen table, pouring tea into each of their respective cups with a careful, steady hand.

"Thanks for letting us stay here tonight," Katara says with a grateful smile. "You have a lovely inn."

Hama sets her pot down. "Aren't you sweet?" she laughs, and then sits down at her seat the end of the table, Ka across from her. "You know you should be careful. People have been disappearing in those woods you were camping in."

Everyone pauses. "What do you mean _disappearing?_ " Sokka questions.

"When the moon turns full," Hama begins, her voice ominous as she looks down at the table, "people walk in and they don't come out." After a pause, she stands and picks up her teapot with a cheerful smile. "Who wants more tea?"

Except everyone has fallen completely silent, glancing between each other worriedly and then looking back up at her.

"Don't worry," their host reassures, "you'll all be completely safe here." She clasps her hands together. "Why don't I show you to your rooms and you can get a good night's rest?"

They agree, and she takes them each to their separate rooms. Inside their rooms, there is a large bed and a closet.

Ka finds herself falling asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow, despite her adversity to the place.

* * *

Oddly enough, Hama wakes them up in the morning to take them shopping in the marketplace. Ka spends a few minutes before they leave touching up the black dye to her hair—after a few days, it begins to fade, especially when her hair has been tossing and turning on a pillow all night.

At the market, Hama and Katara are laughing with one another, while Aang, Sokka, Ka, and Toph walk elsewhere on their own—Aang holds a package slung over his shoulder, Sokka with one attached to his sword, Ka with a small pot in her arms, and Toph with a large basket on her head.

"People disappearing in the woods, weird stuff happening during full moons?" Sokka suggests. "This just reeks of Spirit World shenanigans."

"I bet if we take a little walk around town, we'll find out what these people did to the environment to make the spirits mad," Aang says.

"And then you guys can sew up this little mystery lickety-split, Avatar-Minder style!"

Aang smiles proudly, and looks over at Ka. "Helping people, that's what we do."

Ka pauses for a moment, and then looks over at her friends. "But I do not feel any sort of disturbance. I feel no anger within the spiritual energy of this village."

"Huh," Sokka says, and he starts to think about it, effectively ending the conversation.

"You know," comes a sudden, and familiar voice, and Ka scowls, "it's a wonder how people don't recognize you just from your eyes."

At first, she ignores him, refusing to glance over at the figure that strolls beside her. Then Aang gives her a questioning look, and she returns it with a long-suffering expression of her own.

"Ah," Aang then realizes. "Zuko."

Sokka stiffens immediately. "Tell him to go away!" he whisper-yells, catching strange looks from a few passerby. "He can't know where we are or he'll send dad's army after us!"

Ka lets out a slow sigh. "He will not," she says hesitantly. "He said he is... on our side now."

"What? " comes Sokka and Toph's incredulous reply.

"It's messed up," Ka then says, sounding not like herself for a moment, like Aang's thoughts had transferred to her mouth. She then shakes her head and looks over at Zuko, replying to his previous words, "No one pays attention to me long enough to notice my eyes."

He blinks at her a few times, then tilts his head. "Why not?"

"Surely you must have noticed," Ka deadpans. "Spirits are naturally passive and fade into nature—that is why most humans cannot see them in the physical world. Even though I have transferred to this world, I am still a spirit, and to some I am nothing but background noise."

"That's..." Zuko begins, then pauses, trying to find the right words. "I've noticed it," he eventually says. "But now I can't help but notice you everywhere I am."

Ka furrows her eyebrows. "That is because you are crazy."

"What is he saying now?" Toph asks, sounding a little amused. "Right now, you sound like the crazy one."

Ka sighs, and looks over at her unwanted companion. "Go away. Stop talking to me when I am in public."

"So it's okay when you're not in public?"

"I'll kill you."

In the end, Zuko eventually disappears when the group approach Katara and Hama, and the elderly woman hands them a few more baskets of food.

"Why don't you take all those things back to the inn?" she asks kindly. "I just have to run a couple more errands. I'll be back in a little while."

Sokka runs up to her suspiciously, raising her eyebrows. "This is a mysterious little town you have here."

Hama pauses, and then says slowly, "Mysterious town for mysterious children."

And with that, she smiles and saunters away, leaving the group simply watching her leave.

* * *

Back at the inn, they begin to unpack groceries onto the counter in silence, but Sokka sets his basket down and frowns.

"That Hama seems a little strange," he says, and Ka nods in agreement. "Like she knows something, or she's hiding something."

Katara scoffs. "That's ridiculous. She's a nice woman who took us in and gave us a place to stay. She kinda reminds me of Gran-Gran."

"But what did she mean by that comment, _mysterious children?_ "

"Gee, I don't know," Katara replies sarcastically. "Maybe because she found five strange kids camping in the woods at night? Isn't that a little mysterious?"

Sokka turns on his heel and stomps up a flight of wooden stairs, "I'm gonna take a look around."

Katara rushes after him, stopping at the bottom of the stairs. "Sokka! Sokka, what are you doing!?" She dashes up the stairs, trying to stop her brother as he snoops around each room, the others following. "You can't just snoop around someone's house!"

"It'll be fine," Sokka assures, opening a cabinet and furrowing his eyebrows.

Despite the group's attempts, Sokka eventually finds a room in the attic that has nothing but a small chest in the center of the room. Toph uses her meteor bracelet and bends it into a key to unlock the chest, hoping for treasure, while Katara argues with the very idea of it and Aang tries to settle everyone down. Ka, on the other hand, merely watches from the sidelines, her curiosity getting the better of her.

When Toph gets the chest open, all five of them are clumped together in an attempt to see what is inside.

"I'll tell you what's in the box."

The group shuts in surprise, whirling around sharply to see Hama standing in the doorway with an unreadable expression. Hama takes the box from Sokka and lifts the lid, reaching her hand inside. The team watches in anticipation as she slowly pulls out a blue whale-tooth comb, smiling.

"An old comb?" Sokka asks, surprised.

"It's my greatest treasure," Hama replies, nodding. "It's the last thing I own from growing up in the Southern Water Tribe."

Sokka and Katara splutter in surprise, and Katara is the first to get her words out correctly, "You're from the Southern Water Tribe?"

Hama carefully sets down the comb. "Just like you."

"How did you know?" Katara gasps.

"I heard you talking around your campfire."

"But why didn't you tell us?" Sokka asks.

"I wanted to surprise you!" Hama replies. "I bought all this food today so I could fix you a big Water Tribe dinner. Of course, I can't get all the ingredients I need here, but ocean kumquats are a lot like sea prunes if you stew them long enough."

Aang and Ka both scowl in disgust. "Great," they deadpan in unison.

"I knew I felt a bond with you right away!" Katara exclaims happily.

"And I knew you were keeping a secret, so I guess we're both right," Sokka says proudly, but groans when Katara hits him in the arm. "But... I'm sorry we were sneaking around."

Hama smiles. "Apology accepted." Then she turns and motions with her hand. "Now, let's get cooking!"

* * *

They hide Appa and Momo in a barn at the end of the inn. Back inside the inn itself, their host sets down plate after plate of portions of makeshift Water Tribe food. Sokka eagerly chews on a piece of meat, while Hama smiles at them from the head o the table.

Aang leans in and whispers to Toph, "I'd steer clear of the sea prunes."

"I thought they were ocean kumquats."

"Close enough."

"Who wants five flavor soup?" Hama asks cheerfully. When all five raise their hands in acceptance, Hama situates her hands over the bowl and suddenly summons a globule of soup to fill each of their bowls. Five streams of soup land gracefully in their bowls, and Hama puts her hands down.

Katara beams. "You're a waterbender! I've never met another waterbending from our tribe!"

Hama suddenly dons a sad face. "That's because the Fire Nation wiped them all out. I was the last one..."

Katara clasps her hands together and gives her a pitying look.

Sokka frowns, "So how did you end up out here?"

"I was stolen from my home," Hama begins grimly. "It was over sixty years ago when the raids started. They came again and again, each time rounding up more of our waterbenders and taking them captive. We did our best to hold them off, but our numbers dwindled as the raids continued... Finally, I too was captured. I was led away in chains. The last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe."

Katara walks over to her and places her arms around her shoulders comfortingly.

"They put us in terrible prisons here in the Fire Nation. I was the only one who managed to escape."

"How did you get away?" Sokka continues. "And why did you stay in the Fire Nation?"

Hama looks as if she is going to cry. "I'm sorry," she replies with a strained voice. "It's too painful to talk about anymore."

"We completely understand," Katara says. "We lost our mother in a raid."

"Oh, you poor things," Hama says sympathetically.

Sokka casts his head down. Aang and Ka glance at one another with matching expressions.

"I can't tell you what it means to meet you," Katara urges. "It's an honor. You're a hero."

"I never thought I'd meet another Southern waterbender," Hama says, then pauses. "I'd like to teach you what I know so you can carry on the Southern tradition when I'm gone."

Katara bolts up, grinning from ear to ear. "Yes! Yes, of course! T-to learn about my heritage... It would mean everything to me."

And they bow to one another. The exchange feels too personal to say anything, so everyone else remains silent for the rest of dinner.

* * *

The next day, Katara leaves with Hama to begin their lessons, while Aang, Sokka, Ka, and Toph wander about the landscapes of the village, trying to uncover any signs of disruption that would anger the spirits. Throughout the whole journey, Ka still senses zero disturbance.

"This has got to be the nicest natural setting in the Fire Nation," Aang says. "I don't see anything that would make a spirit mad around here."

"I still feel nothing," Ka reminds.

Sokka deeply inhales the aroma of a bundle of flowers, as if they would give the answer for the disappearing villagers.

"Maybe the Moon Spirit just turned mean," Toph says.

Sokka whirls around angrily and shouts, "The Moon Spirit is a gentle, loving lady! She rules the sky with compassion and... lunar... goodness!"

Ka turns and catches the attention of someone walking past. "Excuse me, sir," she begins politely, "can you tell us anything about what has been causing the disappearances?"

"Only one man ever saw it and lived and that's Old Man Ding," replies the villager.

"Where does Old Man Ding live?"

* * *

When they find Old Man Ding, the sky begins to fade into night, and they watch as the old man boards up his windows.

"Old Man Ding?"

Startled by the sudden words, Old Man Ding accidentally hammers his thumb and cries out in pain. "Ow, dang blame it! What? Can't you see I'm busy? Got a full moon rising! And why does everyone call me that? I'm not that old!" He bends down and attempts to lift a wooden plank off the ground, but his back cracks audibly and it falls from his hands. "Well," he sighs, "I'm young at heart."

Aang walks over and helps him lift the board.

"Not ready to get snapped up by some moon monster yet at least," Old Man Ding mutters.

Sokka helps nail the board to the wooden frame. "We wanted to ask you about that."

"Did you get a good look at the spirit that took you?" Aang asks. Ka frowns at their continuous assumption that it is a spirit.

"Didn't see no spirit," Old Man Ding replies, "just felt something come over me, like I was possessed. Forced me to start walking toward the mountain." He points at it for show. "I tried to fight it, but I couldn't control my own limbs! It just about had me into a cave up there"—he imitates a walking puppet—"and I looked up at the moon for what I thought would be my last glimpse of light. But then the sun started to rise and I got control of myself again! I just high-tailed it away from that mountain as quick as I could!"

By the end of his story, Sokka is quivering in fear, but he manages to ask, "Why would a spirit want to take people to a mountain?"

"Oh no!" Toph suddenly exclaims. "I _did_ hear people screaming under the mountain! The missing villagers must still be there!"

The four glance at one another before looking up at the mountain. Then they thank Old Man Ding for his input and race through the dark forest in search of the missing villagers.

Toph stops for a moment to feel the ground with her hand. "I can hear them. They're this way!"

Eventually, their directions lead them to a mouth of a large, ominous cave.

"This is the place," Toph says.

"I can't see anything down there," Sokka says.

Toph grabs his hand, "That's why you have me. Let's go!"

They rush into the dark cave, holding onto one another in a sort of line so Toph can navigate them through. Eventually, they reach a solid metal door. Toph breaks it down with her metalbending and they take the torches from the side of the cave to light their way towards a smaller area of the cavern, where they find several villagers chained to walls of the cave.

"We're saved!" exclaims one.

Toph forms her meteor bracelet into a key and begins to unfasten the prisoner's shackles. To make the process faster, Ka freezes some of the locks with water and breaks them apart.

"I didn't know spirits made prisons like this," Aang says.

"They don't," Ka replies, and looks at one of the female prisoners. "Who brought you here?"

"It was no spirit," agrees the prisoner.

"It was a witch!" exclaims another.

"A witch?" Sokka repeats. "What do you mean?"

Another prisoner speaks up, as Toph unlocks her shackles. "She seems like a normal old woman, but she controls people like some dark puppetmaster!"

Sokka grits his teeth. "Hama!"

"Yes, the innkeeper!"

"I knew there was something creepy about her!" Sokka says to his friends.

"We have to stop her," Aang and Ka agree in unison.

"I'll get these people out of here," Toph says, waving them off. "You go!"

* * *

They arrive on the scene to see Katara's body being manipulated and almost crushed by the elderly woman, her entire face tearful. But then she breaks free and sends Hama crashing to the ground with her own bending prowess, and Ka thinks, far from the first time, that the spirits have truly blessed Katara with power.

"We know what you've been doing, Hama!" Sokka shouts at her when she rises to her knees.

"Give up!" Aang says, assuming a fighting stance. "You're outnumbered!"

"No!" Hama says, and grins as she rises. "You've outnumbered yourselves."

Suddenly, her hands tighten into an almost claw-like shape, and the three of them immediately stiffen into place, without them ever moving their bodies. Ka's eyes widen in fear at the feeling of all control being ripped away from her—she can feel her muscles twitching in protest, and her blood rushing unnaturally in her body, and that is when she realizes: the most unnatural form of waterbending, forbidden and untouched by the spirits. Something that disobeys every law of nature, every basic human right.

She is bloodbending them, and forcing them to fight their friend.

Sokka unwillingly draws his sword. "Katara, look out!" The blade waves back and forth rapidly. "It's like my brain has a mind of its own! Stop it, arm, stop it!"

Katara pulls up a ring of water and pushes Sokka away.

Ka has no words—anything she could ever say is caught in her throat and she has never felt a fear like this before. Out of the corner of her eye she sees Zuko, watching helplessly, his legs twitching as if he wants to run out and help but he is not there, not really, so all he can do is stay. Hama seems to sense something in her, and instead of rushing towards Katara, she is bending towards the tree and stuck there.

"This feels weird!" Aang shouts.

Katara freezes him to the same tree Ka is trapped against. "I'm sorry, Aang!"

"It's okay!"

Sokka rises, and he screams when he unwillingly rushes towards his sister, his sword outstretched. Katara draws water from a vine and freezes his hand and sword to a tree.

"Don't hurt your friends, Katara!" Hama taunts sinisterly. "And don't let them hurt each other!"

Suddenly, Sokka's and Aang's ice encasement is broken, and Ka is dragged along with the ride when they are sent rushing towards each other, Sokka's sword doomed to slice into both of them.

"No! "

Abruptly, they stop, and the control Hama had on them is gone, as evidenced by them falling to the ground. Looking over at Hama, they see her stiffened, and Katara suddenly looks unsure as she lowers her arms, pushing Hama down to the ground and subduing her. Ka feels all the color leave her face, and the spiritual energy around the forest feels wrong and tainted.

The freed villagers come to the area with Toph and put handcuffs around Hama.

"You're going to be locked away forever," says one of the prisoners.

"My work is done," says Hama, and she turns to look at Katara with a grin that can only be described as pure evil. "Congratulations, Katara. You're a bloodbender."

Katara breaks into tears. Hama laughs as she is dragged away. Ka resists the urge to scream at the woman, berate her for ever disrupting the natural order, and just hopes that the spirits will give her the punishment she deserves—instead, she joins her friends, and puts an arm around Katara's waist in an attempt to comfort her. She feels a hand on her own back, and, just this once, accepts Zuko's own attempt at comfort.

Fear still races through her veins. The touch, for once, feels almost welcome.

* * *

They make it to their next camp area quickly enough, when the sun begins to set over the horizon. Apparently, it turns out to be their official rendezvous point for their invasion force. It is a small island, and there is a beach surrounded by cliffs that allows or easy hiding.

"Nice choice, Sokka," Katara compliments when she scopes out the area. "And we're here four days ahead of schedule."

"Wait!" Aang shouts anxiously. "Four days? The invasion's in _four_ days!?"

Sokka yawns lazily, laying down on the ground. "Whatever. That's, like, four days from now. Let's just calm down and—" He does not even finish his sentence before he falls asleep and begins snoring.

"Sokka's got the right idea, Aang," Katara says. "We're here. We're ready. The best thing we can do now is get plenty of rest." She lies down, and Ka does not miss the fact that she seems to be ignoring everything that happened with Hama.

"I guess," Aang replies halfheartedly, and soon enough, he and Ka too fall asleep.

* * *

 _The Avatar bursts through the large Fire Nation door, his large, black hair tied with a headband, dramatically posing in the air before he lands on a rock tower. The Minder and another boy follow suit, the former with floating white hair and a strange purple dress and the latter in a topknot and a Fire Nation uniform._

 _The Avatar and Minder declare together, "Your days of tyranny are over, Fire Lord! We are bringing you down!"_

 _The Fire Lord is larger than all of them, seemingly floating in the air, surrounded by broken pillars and pits of fire. He is about to take a bite of a bundle of grapes when the Avatar and the Minder speak, and when he hears their words, he laughs and leans in close to them. "Really?" he taunts. "How do you plan on doing that when you're not even wearing pants?"_

 _The two of them look down to see that they are, in fact, pleasantness, even though the Minder already was just by wearing the dress. Despite that, they both pull out their respective nation shields from thin air and cover themselves with it. Eyes appear all around them, and the boy who had entered the room with them disappears into smoke. The giant Fire Lord laughs, his voice filling the room as the Avatar and Minder slowly back out of the room. The flames rise, and—_

Aang and Ka bolt upwards in shock, sweating, but mostly confused by the strange dream they just had. Aang feels all around for his pants, and then exhales slowly in relief.

"It was just a dream, Momo," he says to the chittering lemur. "I still have my pants." He then stands, and looks over at Ka. "Well, we better keep training."

She just stares at him with incredulous eyes. "Aang," she then says, "the invasion is not going to happen like that."

"I have to train harder so I don't forget my pants!" is all he shouts in reply, very obviously too tired to understand what he is really saying.

Ka just shakes his head when he walks over to a bush and begins kicking it. She thinks back to the dream, to the ridiculous content of it, and then remembers that there was another person alongside them.

All of her dreams have usually been foreshadowing in some way, and no matter how bizarre, they have always contained some bit of truth. It is both a blessing and a curse being a spirit.

And with the insanity of the rest of the dream, the one person beside them all must be the bit of truth.

Ka buries her face in her hands and remembers just what Zuko had pleaded, _I want to make it right. Tell me how to make it right. I can help._

"Ugh," she groans, and flops onto her back, looking up at the sky. "Must you torture me like this?"

"What's wrong?" Aang asks, having heard her groan from afar.

Ka hesitates, debating with herself in whether she should even say anything, but she has never been one to tempt fate. "There was someone else with us in the dream," she eventually says, looking at him, waiting for him to figure the rest out.

There are a few moments where he simply stares at her with a blank face. Then he frowns. "Oh no."

" _Oh no,_ indeed."

* * *

Ka spends the rest of the night weighing over the pros and cons of what her dream suggests, all while ignoring the sound of Aang beating up the nearby bushes and trees. She really does not want to do it, she would rather die, honestly, but the pros outweigh the cons and one of Ka's great skills is masking how she truly feels.

So, she forces herself to appear to Zuko, arriving in the middle of him getting dressed and ready by his servants. She scowls at the sight, and when he sees her, his eyes go wide and his cheeks go pink.

"We need to talk," she says firmly, crossing her arms.

Zuko blinks once, twice, then nods, and orders his servants away, _I want to be alone for a little bit._ Though met with some confused looks, they simply bow and exit the room.

"Hey," he then breathes, looking amazed at the sight of her.

"You were in my dream," Ka says, deciding to cut right to the chase. Zuko's face turns a bright red and she frowns deeply. "Stop looking at me like that. I dreamt about my Avatar and I meeting the Fire Lord in battle and you were there." She pointedly does not say _invasion._ "Alongside us."

Zuko furrows his eyebrows. "What?"

Ka sighs. "It was an odd dream—insane, truly, is the word for it. But all my dreams have truth to them. You had to have been the only truth."

"So... you mean..."

"Your offer to help." Ka steps closer to him. "Is that still available?"

* * *

The next step is to bring it up with her friends, which is more difficult than bringing Zuko on board. She finds Katara talking to Aang as he contiguously punches a tree, and walks up to the two of them.

"... you know," she hears Katara say as she walks closer, "there is such a thing as over-training."

With Aang's last punch, his entire body vibrates with the motion and he falls on his back, a layer of leaves collapsing on him. Katara and Ka stare down at him, Sokka and Toph looking at him from behind them.

"You don't get it, do you?" Aang jumps out from under the leaves and circles them in a fighting stance. "My form is bad, I'm sloppy, and I still don't know any firebending. Not even the basics!"

His eyes are twitching. Ka frowns and grabs onto his arms, forcing him to stop in place. "Overworking yourself will only make you weaker," she says.

"Plus, the eclipse will block off firebending anyway," Sokka says, looking at his map. "You don't need to know it." He pauses. "Plus, it's a stupid element."

Ka hears Zuko make an annoyed huff behind her, and sighs, not even deciding to question just when he got there.

"Okay, well, I still have to work on everything else," Aang says, completely ignoring Ka's words. "I better spend the whole day training." He bows quickly to each of them, and then rides off on an air scooter.

Ka sighs at his retreating form, and then looks towards her friends. "Hey," she calls to get their attention.

"I hope you don't have that same crazy idea too," Katara says.

Ka snorts. "No, do not worry," she replies. "I have one much worse."

* * *

"I think it could work," Toph speaks up, shrugging.

"Absolutely not!" Katara protests, an expected reaction.

Sokka, for once, has nothing to say.

"Will you let me explain further?" Ka sighs. She had only been able to get the words _Zuko can help us_ before everyone flew into a rage. Katara eventually huffs, crossing her arms, and Ka glances at the boy standing beside her before continuing, "Even in the physical world, I retain some of my spiritual powers. I can sense things normal people cannot, and I can predict and feel when things are going, or are meant to happen. This is one of those things."

"So you're a fortuneteller now?" Sokka deadpans.

"Must you poke fun at me all the time?" Ka snaps, clenching her fists, the earth beneath her cracking. Sokka flinches and looks off to the side. She takes another deep breath. "At first, I was confused why this spiritual connection was created. But after this dream, I know."

"Dream?" Katara repeats.

"Aang and I experienced a shared dream last night," she replies, and suddenly feels somewhat embarrassed of the exact contents of the dream. "Zuko had been there, _alongside_ us. Not against us. I am inclined to believe that this connection had been made for this reason. For him to help us in the invasion."

"Shh!" Sokka rushes up to her and covers her mouth. "What if he's here right now!? He could spill the secret!"

Ka furrows her eyebrows and rips his hand off. Zuko snorts beside her. "He already knows."

"What!? "

"I told him," she goes on. "I told him the basic plan, and he has agreed to help us. But it is your plan, Sokka, and I would not make any solid decisions without my friends' approval."

Katara still looks angry.

Toph sighs. "I can _feel_ everyone's apprehension," she says, and rises to her feet, walking over beside Ka. "You're too nice to convince everyone," she comments, and Ka just shrugs at that. "Alright, guys," Toph then goes, "our invasion plan is already pretty good, but we have close to _no_ idea of the exact layout of the Fire Lord's palace, and the workings of his soldiers, and _everything_ that goes in inside there! Wouldn't it be a smart idea to have someone already on the inside, someone _close?_ Who better else than the _prince?_ Like, _c'mon,_ people! It's like every time an opportunity presents itself, you guys don't even wanna _look_ at it!"

There is another few moments of silence. Sokka seems a bit convinced, but Katara only crosses her arms tighter.

"Katara," Ka says, softly. "I know how you feel. I do not like this any more than you do, but..." She pauses. "I am confident that this will work, and everything will turn out okay."

"Hey," Zuko says, and Ka turns to look at him. "Let me try something." He holds out his hand, and Ka just stares at it with incredulous eyes. "Just take it," he urges, and she sighs before reluctantly resting her hand on top of his, just barely brushing it. He grips it tightly, and suddenly it is like she is taking a backseat in her own mind, and her own eyes turn a blank, dull white.

The words that come out of her mouth are not hers, but Zuko's: "I know you all probably don't trust me after what I did—"

"Now _that's_ freaky," Toph says, her eyes wide.

"This spiritual stuff is getting to be too much," Sokka groans, putting a hand on his forehead.

Katara, on the other hand, seems to accept it like it is nothing, and takes her chance to give the prince a piece of her mind. " _Probably?_ Of course we don't trust you!"

Zuko pauses, and his expression mirrors itself on Ka's face. "I made a mistake," he continues, through Ka's mouth, "and I feel _wrong._ I want to fix it. I want to help... please. Please let me make it right."

"He's willing to help, Katara," Toph says. "Who knows how the invasion will go? Having someone on the inside will bring our chances even higher!"

"Y'know, as much as I hate firebenders," Sokka says, "I gotta hand it to ya, Ka. This is an actually okay idea. Besides, after we win, we won't even need him anymore!"

 _Better than yours,_ Ka wants to say, but Zuko is still in control, and she scowls at him.

"Will you give me a chance?" Zuko asks through her. His grip on Ka's hand tightens, and he tries to lace their fingers together, but she squeezes hard enough to hurt, and he winces.

"I've already _given_ you countless chances, haven't I?!" Katara snaps.

"I know," Zuko admits. "I know. I'm sorry. I really am."

There is another long few minutes of silence. Katara's expression morphs from angry, to sad, to guilty, then to reluctant. Her arms fall to her sides and she sighs, running a hand through her messy hair. Looking towards Ka's body, her next words are directed towards Ka herself, not Zuko, "I believe you, and you're right. I'm just... angry. I'll agree to it, because you're not just the Minder, but because you're my friend."

Ka smiles.

"But I have one condition."

"What?" Ka's and Zuko's voices say at the same time.

Katara then dons a menacing smirk. "I get to punch the lights out of that stupid prince when we meet him."

Zuko shivers and lets go of Ka's hand. Finally back in her body, in control, Ka smirks back and nods.

"Be my guest."

"Okay," Sokka says, rising to his feet, "we should probably keep this plan in this group. If we tell the rest of the invasion force, they might get angry, and not want to do it."

"Good idea," Ka says, and looks over where Zuko had once stood. "I just hope I'm right."

* * *

That night, when Aang returns from his long day of training, Ka gives him a sharp look and nods, and when he nods back, she knows he knows that the plan had worked.

Then she sees how he looks, and how he carries himself, and knows that all of his training is only hurting his body more. She dreads the next dream they may have.

"Goodnight, Katara. Goodnight, Ka. Goodnight, Sokka. Goodnight, Toph. Goodnight, Appa. Goodnight, Momo. Goodnight, Appa and Momo—"

" _GO TO SLEEP ALREADY!_ "

* * *

 _The Avatar, the Minder, and the Fire Nation Prince burst through the same door as before, wearing the same clothes but somehow more exaggerated. There are chains wrapping around all of their clothing, keeping them securely tucked on._

 _"Your days of tyranny are over, Fire Lord!" the Avatar and the Minder declare together, pointing at the giant Fire Lord. "We're bringing you down! And this time, we brought pants."_

 _The Fire Lord eyes them up and down, but then grins. "So it seems, but are you prepared for... your mathematics test?"_

 _A giant abacus lands behind them._

 _"Math test!?" the Avatar exclaims._

 _"Oh no!" the Minder gasps. "We forgot all about the math test!"_

 _Then all three of them are pulled backwards, until they are crushed by the beads on the abacus. The laughter of the Fire Lord rings in the distance._

Ka wakes up with a groan. Aang wakes up with a shout.

"I've gotta be ready," he breathes, jumping to his feet and walking towards a herd of sleeping koala sheep.

Ka follows him, and when she catches up with Aang, she sees him pacing around the herd, his feet barely making any noise, his arms held up as if the sheep were to attack at any moment.

"Aang," she sighs, "listen to me, would you?"

"But we forgot our pants and our math test!"

She reaches forward and grabs onto his wrists, pulling him to face her. "Aang," she says seriously, "do you truly think the Fire Lord would face us with a _math test?_ He and the rest of his nation wishes us dead, and for the rest of the world to be his. We cannot afford to exhaust our bodies with this constant training." She tightens her grip on his shoulders. "The world is counting on us. Please. Sleep."

He looks at her with a strange look, but then his eyes turn serious and he nods. "Alright," he murmurs, and Ka leads him back to the camp.

* * *

When he arrives at Mai's house, the first thing he tells her is that he needs to discuss something with her, alone, with no chance of anyone possibly hearing them. So they continue their guise as a couple, relaxing on a couch, and play off a little idea.

"Tell me," he says, loud enough for the servants of her house to hear, "if you could have anything you want right now, what would it be?"

"Hm..." Mai pauses, her nail tracing around his clothed chest. "A big fancy fruit tart, with rose petals on top." It's so very _not-Mai,_ but whatever she wants, the servants are inclined to grant.

"You know, being a prince and all, I _might_ just be able to make that happen."

" _That_ would be impressive," Mai chuckles.

Zuko leans over the couch and looks over at the awaiting servants. "Do you think you could find a fresh fruit tart for the lady, with rose petals on top?"

They bow in reply. "Excellent choice, sir." And with that, they leave.

After waiting a few moments, Mai looks up at him. "So, what's wrong?"

Zuko bites his lip, and then moves to stand, untangling himself from her arms. Her touch is nice, and comforting, but it's not the same, and he can't live with himself if he continues to pretend and to lead her on any more.

"Zuko," Mai says seriously, when he doesn't say anything for a few long moments, "what is it?"

"I'm sorry," Zuko finally says to her, turning around to face her, "but... I can't lead you on anymore. It's not fair."

She furrows her eyebrows. "Are you breaking up with me?"

Sort of, but it's complicated. He tells her as such. He also tells her, "My heart isn't in the right place. I care about you, I _really_ do, I promise you that, but... everything feels... wrong."

Mai looks angry for a moment, but then she looks down at her lap and sighs. "You've seemed troubled ever since you came back," she admits, rising to her feet and walking closer to him. "Like you were... _stuck_ on something, or trapped, but... you couldn't get out of it." She puts her hands on his arms reassuringly. "I care about you too, y'know. Tell me what's wrong."

He hesitates, but then decides he trusts her enough to say, "I'm leaving."

She doesn't bat an eye. "When?"

"I don't know," he half-lies. "Soon. Probably in a few days."

"What are you going to go do?" she asks, though almost unsurely, as if she wonders if she should even ask the question.

"What I should've done back in Ba Sing Se." It's the most easiest thing to say since he's returned and it feels like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders.

Mai pauses, staring into his eyes, searching for something. "So it's about the Minder," she asks softly, "isn't it?"

The back of his neck heats up, and he swallows. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Mai says, though she can't mask her mild annoyance, and slowly lets her hands fall from his arms. "At least you _told_ me, instead of hiding all your feelings like you usually do."

"Sorry."

"How are you going to leave, though?" she asks, deciding to veer off that subject. "There's a lot going on—like that all-day war meeting coming up."

His eyes go wide. "War meeting? What are you talking about?"

"Azula mentioned something," Mai replies, looking confused. "I assumed you were going too?"

"... I guess I wasn't invited." It sounds important, though, and probably has something to do with the upcoming invasion. He makes a note to ask his sister about it.

"Then maybe you have a better chance of leaving," Mai tries to lighten his spirits.

At that moment, the servants return with her fruit tart, and she dons a fake smile and walks over to retrieve it. Zuko watches as she lays on the couch and begins to eat it, and they exchange a look.

He's put all of his trust into her. He just hopes he won't regret it.

* * *

Aang's exhaustion begins to seep into Ka's. He stops having incredibly odd dreams, but his anxiety keeps him up all night and his paranoia only makes things worse, and Ka finds herself wide awake at night, as well.

So, their friends try some sort of therapy to try and calm them down. There is only two days before the invasion, after all. For them to be exhausted—it would not go down well at all.

First, Katara takes the two of them inside a steaming cavern inside of a mountain. Her yoga attempts only manage to make the stress worse, and tangible.

Then, Sokka forms a makeshift therapy session, when all their talking fails, he simply suggests screaming into a pillow. They do so. It does not help.

Finally, Toph earthbends her own massage. Ka finds it soothing, but Aang, not so much. Her last suggestion is acupuncture, but Aang runs away screaming. Ka just sighs.

* * *

When he finds his sister, she's lays down on a chair at the royal spa, her hair flowing in the long fountain, a servant weaving a comb through it with the utmost care.

"Hello, Zuzu," Azula greets, not even opening her eyes. "If you've come for a royal hair-combing, I'm afraid you'll have to wait."

"So I guess there's a big war meeting coming up, huh?" Zuko asks. "And apparently I'm not welcome there."

"What do you mean? Of course you're welcome there."

"Oh, yeah? I guess that's why no one bothered to tell me about it."

"Oh, Zuko," his sister sighs. "Don't be so dramatic. I'm certain Dad wants you there. You probably just weren't invited because it's so obvious you're supposed to be there."

"Well, were you invited?"

"Of course! I'm the princess."

"And I'm the prince!"

"Exactly," Azula says, "so stop acting like a paranoid child! Just go to the meeting."

He opens his mouth to snaps at her, but then takes a slow, deep breath. "Whatever," he mutters, and turns on his heel to leave, ignoring Azula's scrutinizing gaze on his back.

* * *

He finds himself sulking while looking out the window, angry at himself for nearly losing his temper. He and his stupid stubbornness.

"Did you figure out why you weren't invited?" asks Mai as she walks up to his side.

Zuko's pout only gets deeper. "No," he replies. "Azula said it was assumed because I'm the prince."

"Hm." Mai just shrugs. "It's just a dumb meeting. Why would you even want to go?"

He doesn't say _because of the invasion,_ no matter how much he wants to. He just doesn't reply.

"If you go," Mai suggests, "it might just make it harder to go."

"I guess," he eventually says, and she smiles at him before leaving him alone.

He isn't alone for long. Ka appears beside him after a few minutes, looking out the window with him.

"You told her," she says. It's not an accusation.

"I trust her."

"I can see that." He doesn't know what he hears in her voice, and he's pretty sure he's being too hopeful to consider it _jealousy,_ but he supposes annoyance is the closest way to describe it.

"You know," he says, causing her to look at him, "this is probably the wrong time, but my feelings for you never left."

She stares at him for a long moment. With each passing second, her ears turn pinker. Eventually, she scowls deeply. "You are right," she says. "This is the wrong time." But instead of leaving, she simply turns back to the window, and stands next to him in silence.

Zuko thinks, maybe, for once, things will turn out alright, and he smiles.

* * *

"Thanks for everything, guys," Aang says sincerely, sitting on the ground, looking up at his friends.

"So, do you guys feel less stressed? Ready for a good night's sleep?"

Ka looks at her Avatar, considering all of her stress has mostly come from him. "Uh," Aang then says, turning his head away, "I kinda think I sorta might slightly feel a little better." He looks back at them. "Maybe."

"Then our work here is done," Sokka says, shrugging, and turns to go lie down.

The rest of their friends leave to their respective sleeping spots, and Aang and Ka unsurely lay down, closing their eyes, seemingly falling asleep as soon as their heads meet the metaphorical pillow.

* * *

 _It starts with a thunderstorm. Aang soars through the rain and lightning on Appa, but a giant Momo smacks them into the water._

 _When he emerges, Ka is standing there at the edge, and suddenly, they are in the Fire Nation Royal Palace. It is like he is pushed forward without even moving his legs._

 _Toph is slowly rotating around. Her eyes are blank and empty. Neither of them can open their mouths, can speak, can move, and Toph falls down under the floor without a word._

 _Sokka is running, trying to break free, but wet earth closes around him, fills his mouth, suffocates him._

 _Katara is surrounded by flames, the circle closing in on her at speeds they cannot fight against._

 _They try to reach out for her, but their feet are frozen to the ground. The ice crawls up their bodies, completely encasing them in ice. The fire surrounding Katara forms into Ozai, and his laughter melts the ice itself, causing them to fall and fall and fall until they go deep into the water, sinking to the bottom. Everything seems to shift, rotating, until they are looking up at a frozen surface._

 _Zuko, the Zuko who had chased them on a ship, who hadn't even known them just yet, stares down at them with a hatred neither have seen in a very long time. The comet passes behind him._

 _They stand on grass, and watch as the comet strikes the ground, scorching everything into ash and destroying the land and the people._

Aang wakes up screaming and Ka jolts upwards with a gasp. She puts a hand to her chest, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. Someone's hands are on her shoulders, rubbing circles into them, bringing her back down to earth.

"What happened?" Katara asks worriedly, the rest of their friends rushing over towards them.

"It's the nightmares," Aang says.

"They just get worse and worse," Ka says.

"Looks like it's time for another—" Sokka whirls around and puts on his beard, then dons a deeper voice, "—therapy session."

"No," Aang urges. "That won't help. Nothing helps. There's only one thing I can do!" He stands up along with his declaration, "I'm going to stay awake straight through to the invasion!"

Ka just groans and curls into herself on the ground.

* * *

True to his word, Aang continues not sleeping, and becomes delirious when day breaks.

Katara tries to do exercises on the edge of the cliff, and Aang paces nervously beside her. Ka cannot see his thoughts very well, but he starts to have some sort of hallucination of confessing his feelings to Katara and kissing her. When Katara walks away, Ka just sighs and shakes his head at him, but the movement makes her feel woozy and she groans, stumbling backwards.

Someone catches her before she falls. Turning around, she sees Zuko's face uncomfortable close to hers, but she does not have the energy to try and shove him away.

"You should sleep," he says.

Ka just scoffs. "As if I could," she mutters. "Aang's exhaustion is mine as well. If he cannot sleep, neither can I."

"So you're both suffering," Zuko deciphers.

"What else is new?" Ka deadpans, and stalks off in a different direction.

* * *

Zuko digs through the stuff he had left behind in Mai's house, trying to decide what he should take with him, when a servant suddenly walks into the room.

"Prince Zuko," the servant says, bowing deeply, "everyone's waiting for you."

Mai and Zuko walk over to him, looking at each other in confusion and then down at him.

"What?" Zuko asks.

"The high admirals, the high generals, the war ministers, and the princess have all arrived," the servant informs. "You're the only person missing."

"So... my dad wants me at the meeting?"

"The Fire Lord said he would not start until you arrived, sir."

A part of him feels warm, happy, to feel that acceptance that he spent years trying to gain back, but another part of him feels guilty, for what he is about to do.

Ultimately, he feels a sense of reason. He looks at Mai, who is nodding encouragingly, and pushing him forward.

He remembers the last war meeting he went to when he makes it to the door inside. Somehow, Ka's constant presence beside him comforts him somewhat, and he suddenly feels the bravery of a hundred soldiers.

He walks in.

* * *

Aang starts talking to himself and to Appa and Momo. Ka's connection allows her to hear some of his hallucinations, but she lays underneath the shade of a tree with her eyes closed, trying to rest her body at least a little, even if she cannot sleep. When Guru Pathik's voice reaches her ears, she groans and covers her ears with her hands.

When she opens her eyes, she is laying down behind the Fire Lord's throne, and there are many important people sitting around some sort of table.

* * *

When Zuko walks out of the meeting, Mai is waiting for him there. She grabs onto his arm when he begins to stomp away, following after him.

"So, how did it go?"

Zuko frowns. "When I got to the meeting, everyone welcomed me. My father had saved me a seat. He wanted me next to him. I was _literally_ at his right hand."

"Zuko, that's... wonderful," Mai says, and then furrows her eyebrows, "is it?"

They stop at a large painting of his father. He looks up, gazing at it, remembering how he's always hated looking his father in the eye.

"During the meeting, I was the perfect prince," he then says softly. "The son my father wanted." He looks down, closing his eyes tightly. "But I wasn't me."

Mai is quiet for a moment. Thinking. Calculating.

Zuko says, "I can't stay here."

Mai says, "I know."

* * *

Ka can barely lift herself onto her feet when Aang comes back from his hallucination-based run, the sky having turned into night. The two of them find themselves near some sort of mist of fog, a rock covered in koala sheep wool.

"Oh, look," Aang says to himself, rubbing his face on it. "Another hallucination. An imaginary bed made out of clouds."

"Hey!" Toph exclaims. "It's real! We spent hours working on it."

"We made it for you two," Sokka says, crossing his arms. "A good night's sleep will probably take the crazy away. We hope."

"Look!" Aang argues. "You guys, even Ka, keep telling me that I need to sleep, but I can't! The invasion's tomorrow! "

"Aang..." Katara tries.

"No, Katara! There's still so much I haven't learned. I don't need sleep. What I need is practice. Quick, hit me!" He puts up a weak fighting stance, but starts to wobble in place.

Ka just groans, falling face-first onto the makeshift bed.

"I'm not going to hit you," Katara says.

"You want me to do it?" Sokka nudges Toph in reply.

Katara walks over to Aang, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Listen, you've been training for this since the day we met. I've seen your progress. You're smart, brave, and strong enough. Plus, you're not alone—you have Ka."

"You really think so?"

Katara nods.

"We all do," Sokka assures. "You can do this. You're ready."

"You're the man, Twinkle Toes!"

"Please, sleep, Aang," Katara says, and looks over at Ka. "You're taking Ka down with you, too."

Aang looks down at his Minder, seeing her miserable and unmoving on the makeshift bed. Then he yawns, rubbing his eyes. "Thanks, guys." Katara aids him to the bed, and he lies down beside Ka. "You know what? I think we are ready."

* * *

 _The Avatar and the Minder burst into the Fire Lord's chambers, the prince not too far behind them._

 _"Your days of tyranny are over, Fire Lord!"_

 _"Really?" he mocks. "You're gonna take me out? You're not even wearing pants!"_

 _The Avatar and the Minder look at one another with a grin, and say smugly, "No, Fire Lord Ozai. You're not wearing any pants."_

 _The Fire Lord looks down and shrieks. He pulls out a shield with his element's emblem on it._

 _"No! My royal parts are showing!"_

 _"Ridiculous," says the prince. He gives the Minder and the Avatar a fist-bump._

 _All is well._

* * *

 **i like mai, actually. i think she's interesting.**

 **i hope you like the changes i've made to the story. i think zuko and mai do like each other, to an extent, and still care for each other (as evidenced in season 3 when, even broken up and betrayed, mai saves zuko from azula at the boiling rock). i think she wants him to be happy.**

 **anyway. next chapter is the invasion, parts 1 & 2\. expect a bit of a wait; life has overwhelmed me with responsibility lately.**


	19. season three: episodes 10-11

**here's the invasion. enjoy.**

* * *

Katara walks over to hand both Sokka and Ka a cup of water, as the two of them lean over the pile of maps with intense looks.

The silence is broken when Aang leaps into the air and lands beside Toph, a wide grin on his face. Momo jumps onto his shoulder, and he says cheerfully, "Top o' the mornin', Momo!"

Katara rises and places her hands on her hips, smiling proudly. "Sounds like you slept well."

"I think we both did!" Aang exclaims exuberantly, grinning at his Minder, and then assumes a fighting stance, raising his fists. His hair has grown long enough to bounce when he moves. "We're ready to face the Fire Lord."

"So," Toph speaks up, "what's your strategy for taking him down?" She lifts her hands to her eyes, her fingers wiggling outwards in a mimicry of their shared state, as if trying to make them light up. "Gonna get your glow on and hit him with a little Avatar-Minder State action?"

Ka hops to her feet and walks over beside Aang, sharing a somewhat sad look with him. "We cannot," she says.

"When Azula shot us with lightning," Aang says, closing his eyes for a moment, "our seventh chakras were locked, cutting off our connection to all the cosmic energy in the universe."

Toph is quiet for a moment. "You know what I just heard? Blah, blah, spiritual mumbo-jumbo, blah, blah, something about space."

Ka just snorts. Something in the corner of her eye catches her attention, and she turns to see a thick fog visible on the ocean horizon.

"Oh, no," Katara says, having noticed it as well. "Sokka, do you think the fog will delay the invasion?"

Sokka stands and squints. "No," he says, and then grins, as five Water Tribe ships emerge from the mist. "That _is_ the invasion!"

* * *

The group rushes down to the beach and earthbend rocks from underneath the water to form a sort of dock system for the ships.

Hakoda emerges from one of the boats, and his children rush over to embrace him.

"You made it, Dad!" says Katara.

"Were you able to locate everyone I told you to find?" Sokka asks.

"I did," Hakoda replies, but then frowns doubtfully, "but I'm a little worried, Sokka. Some of these men aren't exactly the... _warrior type._ "

 _These men_ turn out to be Tho and Due (and Huu), from the swamp, descending the wooden ramp from the ship and walking onto the dock.

"This place ain't nothin' like a swamp!" calls Due, before swinging his arm wildly and pointing accusingly to a rock in the water. "What you reckon that is, Tho? Some sort of Fire Nation explodin' trap what eat ya?"

"It's just a rock, Due."

"Well, I'll be."

Ka sighs. "Poor rock," she mutters.

"Is it just me," comes Zuko's voice from beside her, "or are those fellas a little loose in the leaf-hat?"

Ka flinches, and then lifts her arm as if to hit Zuko's arm, but then she simply sighs and lets it fall. "Do _not_ sneak up on me like that."

"On edge?"

"I am supposed to defeat your father today," Ka says incredulously. "What do you think?"

Zuko does not say anything, and Ka furrows her eyebrows in suspicion. She feels as if there is something he is not telling her, but she decides not to focus on it right now.

( _Later,_ she decides. She will ask later.)

Ka stares in shock as Haru and his father arrive, as well as former competitors from Earth Rumble VI. It is almost like a blast from the past—even more so when an explosion goes off from another ship and Teo and his mechanical father appear, with a few more inventions and a couple of Jet's old crew.

After licking away the remains of the peanut sauce bombs from their faces, Teo rolls up to Aang and Ka and holds out two similar-looking staffs up to them. "Aang, Ka," he says, smiling, "my dad and I made these for you."

Aang takes his and taps it against the ground. The wings unfold to reveal a new glider (Ka has to duck to avoid one of the wings hitting her in the face).

"A new glider!" he exclaims. "This is amazing!"

Ka looks at Teo in surprise. "For me too?" she asks, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Of course!" Teo says. "You're an airbender too, aren't you?"

Ka pauses, hesitating, and then reaches to take the glider in her hands. She unfurls the wings by tapping it, and stares at the brilliant violet that coats them.

"I made it violet," Teo says, and suddenly, his cheeks are pink. "Um, because of your eyes."

She finds herself smiling, and she bows. "Thank you very much."

Behind her, Zuko makes a somewhat annoyed grumble.

"And as a _special_ feature," butts in Teo's mechanic father, reaching up towards the handle Aang's blue glider, "I added a snack compartment!" He rotates the handle and hangs his mouth under it, snacks dropping into it.

Aang blinks. "Oh... well, I'm sure that will come in handy." He looks at Ka and they both snort.

* * *

Their small invasion force sits in front of a makeshift earth stage (bent into place by Toph), along with a large wooden plank. Sokka hesitates before walking up, audibly gulping, but after a few encouraging words from his father, he finally manages to walk up.

It does not go that well.

"Good morning, everyone!" he calls, and immediately trips, his scrolls going everywhere. He hastily gathers them back up in his arms, flashing a nervous smile towards the crowd. "Um... so, as you know, today we're invading the Fire Nation! I mean, I know you know that because otherwise, why else would you be here?" He laughs nervously and begins trying to unravel scrolls, a few of them falling from his grip in the process. "Uh, anyway, the Fire Lord's palace is here—" He puts the wrong map up, and flips through them until he gets the correct one, "Uh, nope, uh, wait, uh, wait, it's here!"

"Yikes," says Zuko from his place beside Ka. She just winces through her teeth.

"Uh, there's an eclipse today and Aang and Ka are gonna fight the Fire Lord and the firebenders won't have an fire to use so that's good for us!" Sokka begins to look more maniacal the longer he speaks, and then eventually he takes a deep breath. "And... um... I'm sorry, let me start at the beginning." He suddenly stands up very straight and begins talking incredibly fast, "Katara and I discovered Aang frozen in an iceberg, now I didn't like Aang at first but grew to love him over time, and we found Ka in the blizzard at our village and let her into our group, then we went to the Southern Air Temple where Aang used to live and then we met Suki, who's a Kyoshi warrior. She dressed me like a woman and then she kissed me, and then Aang's friend was a crazy old king and—"

"Wow," Katara comments as Sokka goes on, "when he says the beginning he means the beginning beginning."

Ka can only stare with wide eyes and a dropped jaw.

Hakoda stands and starts to walk onto the stage.

"—and then Katara got Haru arrested and then now he's grown a mustache which if you look at him in the front row you can see it—"

"Thank you, Sokka," interrupts his father, putting a hand on his back. "It's okay—why don't you take a break?" Sokka walks off with a frown, disappointed with himself, then Hakoda turns to address the invasion force. "Let me just clarify a few points for everyone," he starts, with the tone of a true leader; it makes Ka straighten her back and watch him more firmly. "Today is the Day of Black Sun, and I want to thank you all for your self-sacrifice, and your courage. There are two steps to the invasion—a naval stage, and then a land stage. To gain sea access to the Fire Nation capital, we need to get past our first major obstacle here." He points at the area on the map. "The Great Gates of Azulon. Next, we hit the land, and we hit hard. We must fight past their battlements and secure the plaza tower. Once we do that, it's up to the Royal Palace. At that point, the eclipse will begin."

"Excuse me," says The Boulder, raising his hand. "The Boulder is confused. Isn't the point to invade _during_ the eclipse, when the firebenders are powerless?"

"The eclipse only lasts eight minutes," replies Hakoda, "not enough time for the whole invasion. And the Royal Palace is heavily guarded by firebenders. So that's where we'll need the eclipse's advantage the most. When this is finished, the Avatar and the Minder will have defeated the Fire Lord. We will have control of the Fire Nation capital, and this war will be over!"

The entire crowd erupts into cheers, with the exception of Sokka, who turns his head away in dismay.

* * *

It almost seems as if all tension is released from the air as they stand on the rock by the sea. They have returned to their old selves, or, at least, as old as they could possibly return to.

With most of their clothing damaged from lightning, they craft new clothing from what they already have. Aang fashions a sort of Air Nomad outfit using the pants and boots of his Fire Nation school uniform and the broken parts of his old Air Nation outfit. Ka fashions her dark blue robe around her chest and bottom, leaving her shoulders, arms, and stomach exposed while her Fire Nation leggings and boots cover the rest.

Aang shaves his hair off one side at a time, and Ka leans over to rinse out the black dye from hers. She watches the clear water turn murky with each stroke of her hand. Beside her, Aang stands, exposing his arrow to the world for the first time since Ba Sing Se. Rising, Ka bends the water from her hair and flips it, feeling as if a weight has been lifted off her shoulders.

"You look better that way," says Zuko, his face pink.

Ka does not turn to look at him, but instead looks over towards Aang. "Are you ready?" she asks.

Aang nods, clenching his fists and holding his new staff tightly. "Readier than I've ever been."

She feels Zuko shift beside her, and takes a deep breath. "Zuko told me that when the Fire Nation sees our invasion, the royals will be moved to secret chambers."

"Does he know where they are?"

"Yes," Ka replies, before Zuko himself can even open his mouth. "He will meet us down there."

Aang nods, and they unfurl their staffs before flying off.

* * *

It seems almost all of them are changing. Zuko pulls off his armors and sets it carefully on the bed, before removing his headpiece and letting his hair hang down.

Brushing it out of his eyes, he takes a deep breath before sitting at his desk and pulling out a piece of paper.

Ka's presence in the corner makes it easier to write.

* * *

They find Sokka standing quietly on the cliffside, gazing down at the helmet of his armor, and land on each side of him.

"We've been looking everywhere for you," Aang says.

"The boats are ready to leave," comments Ka.

Sokka replies to neither of those. "I messed up."

"What?"

"The invasion plan was my moment of truth," he says, "and I completely flubbed it. I just... fell apart."

Aang puts a hand on his shoulder. "Sokka, that speech wasn't your moment of truth. That was just public speaking, and nobody's really good at that."

"My dad is!" Sokka protests. "He explained the plan perfectly and inspired _everyone,_ like a real leader should."

"Sokka," Ka says, grabbing his attention, and stands firmly, "your moment of truth is not going to be in front of some map. It is going to be out there, on the battlefield."

Sokka's frown only turns deeper. "You guys seem so confident about everything," he mutters. "How do you know we're gonna win?"

"Because we already failed the world once at Ba Sing Se," the Avatar and the Minder reply in unison. "We will not let ourselves fail again."

* * *

The invasion begins.

As soon as they approach the Great Gates of Azulon, a bell begins blaring as a large net rises between the two statues, set ablaze by the structure. Patrol boats race towards them, firebenders on board and ready to fight. They run below deck, to the submarines the mechanist had created with Sokka's invention.

They travel underneath the gates, effectively distracting the soldiers. The waterbenders move the subs continuously, and they travel far enough past the gates to resurface for air without being seen by anyone.

There is water all around them when they step outside the gates. The Duke washes his helmet out in the water, frowning as he attempts to get all of Toph's vomit from it. Aang and Ka jump from on top of Appa to the surface of the submarine.

"So, this is it, huh?" says Aang, as their friends approach them.

"Are you ready for the Fire Nation to know that the Avatar and the Minder are alive?" Sokka asks.

Aang and Ka share a glance, and then nod. "We're ready." Sokka comes up to shake their hands but their entire group rushes them in a hug.

"I hope you kick some serious Fire Lord butt," Toph says, grinning.

"Everyone, listen up," calls Hakoda, and the group fumbles out of their hug. "The next time we resurface, it'll be on the beaches. So stay alert, and fight smart. Now break times over, back in the subs."

Sokka, Toph, and Momo jump back into the submarine, leaving Aang, Ka, and Katara standing alone together. Ka feels as if she is interrupting something, so she walks as far away from the pair as she can, instead staring at her reflection in the water. It is a reflection she has always hated looking at—a stolen face, a gaze that does not belong to her—but for the first time, she feels affirmed in how she looks. She is unique, she is the Minder.

Zuko's reflection appears beside her, and she stares at it for a moment before straightening and looking up to meet his gaze.

For the first time in a very long time, he looks like he knows what he is doing. "Well," is all he says, and he glances over at Aang and Katara to see their intimate exchange.

"Do not," Ka warns, tightening her grip on her glider.

"Sorry," he apologizes, and then bites at his lip. Before Ka can do anything, he reaches down and takes her hand, giving her palm a gentle kiss. It feels like a ghost's touch—barely there—and warm. "See you at the capital."

"See you at the capital," Ka echoes, feeling more than a little breathless as her hand falls back to her side.

Zuko disappears without another word, and she sighs, turning around just in time to see Aang pull back from kissing Katara. He turns around, nods once at Ka, and they both snap their gliders open and fly into the sky.

* * *

They fly in silence for a good few minutes.

"Did Katara say anything?" Ka eventually asks, to break the silence, even through the wind rushing in her ears.

"About what?"

"You know what I'm talking about," she deadpans.

Aang's face colors. "No," he admits. "I kissed her and took off."

"Why?"

"I thought," Aang starts, then hesitates, "well, if I'm not coming back, it would be something I would regret not doing."

Ka frowns. "You _are_ coming back. We both are."

"I know," Aang says, sounding less than convinced. "I just. I don't know." He quickly changes the subject, "What about you and Zuko?"

Her frown turns deeper. "What _about_ us?"

"Whenever Zuko is around I feel some sort of pull, even if the connection is between you and him," Aang informs, raising his eyebrows. "It's almost like a secondhand connection. Anyway, you two were talking on the submarine, right? What about?"

Ka ponders over what she should say for a moment. Then, "He kissed my hand and said he would see me at the capital."

"Wow."

"Shut up."

At that moment, Aang's stomach growls loudly. He glances down at it, then back up at the handle of his glider. Rotating it, he angles his mouth to try and get each snack that falls into it.

"What do you know?" he almost laughs. "It _did_ come in handy."

* * *

After delivering the letter onto Mai's bed, Zuko returns back to his room and kneels before a painting of his mother.

Memories flash by in his mind, of happier times.

"I know I've made some bad choices," he tells her, pretending that maybe somewhere she'll hear him, and understand, "but today, I'm gonna set things right."

And with the strength of blue arrows and violet eyes, he picks up his sword, throws the hood of his robe over his head, and makes his way towards the royal chambers.

* * *

They pass by the invasion force fighting, but cannot stop, for they have an job to do.

They enter the capitol by hiding behind rooftops, but find that there is, in fact, no need to do so. The capitol is completely deserted, nothing but dust and sand in sight.

Ka furrows her eyebrows. "Strange," she murmurs. Could they have evacuated everyone that fast? Does that mean the royal family is already gone, too?"

The two look at one another, and then continue onto the Royal Palace. They break down the door with a simultaneous airbending blast, and jump inside. "The Avatar and the Minder are back!" Their declaration is met with silence, and they relax out of their fighting stances, looking around. "Hello? Anyone home?"

Even the throne room is barren. No guards, no nothing.

"No..." Aang murmurs. "No, no, no! Fire Lord Ozai, where are you!?"

"They evacuated to the royal chambers that fast?" Ka asks in disbelief.

"There's no way," Aang says. "Hundreds of civilians couldn't have been moved that fast."

Ka blinks a few times, and then her eyes go wide. "They knew. Beforehand." She pauses again, and her entire body goes rigid. "Ba Sing Se."

"Huh?"

"Princess Azula and her friends had disguised themselves as Kyoshi Warriors in Ba Sing Se," she continues.

It takes Aang a few moments for it to process. When it does, he lets out an angered scream and destroys half of the pillars with a fierce airbending blast.

Ka curses. "Come on," she says, opening her glider. "Let us go find the others."

(When she finds Zuko, she swears to herself she will _hurt_ him.)

* * *

The battle is still in full force when they arrive on the scene, landing beside their friends. Hakoda seems to have gotten injured in the process.

"What?" Sokka says aloud when he sees them. "Please tell me you're here because the Fire Lord turned out to be a big wimp and you didn't even need the eclipse to take him down."

Katara, Ka, and Aang kneel down next to him and Hakoda.

"He wasn't home," Aang replies, hanging his head. "No one was."

"The entire palace city is abandoned," Ka says bitterly.

A moment passes. Sokka seems to have an epiphany. "They knew."

"It's over," Aang murmurs, running his fingers along the ground idly. "The Fire Lord is probably long-gone; far away on some remote island where he'll be safe during the eclipse."

"No," Sokka counters thoughtfully. "My instincts tell me he wouldn't go too far. He would have a secret bunker; somewhere he could go and be sage during the siege, but still be close enough to lead his nation."

"Zuko told me there are secret royal chambers underground," Ka comments, practically spitting out the words.

"If it's an underground secret bunker we're looking for," says Toph, pointing to herself with a grin as she approaches, "I'm just the girl to find it."

Sokka nods, and then pulls something out from behind his back. "The mechanist gave me this timing device," he says, holding it out to them so they can look. "It looks like we've got about ten minutes until the full eclipse. Ten minutes to find the Fire Lord."

"We can still do this," Ka says, nodding at her Avatar. "We can still win the day."

"Wait!" Katara interjects. "If they knew we were coming, it could all be a trap. Maybe we should use the time we have left to make sure we all get out of here safely."

Hakoda shakes his head. "Everyone who's here today came prepared to risk everything for this mission. They know what's at stake. If there's still a chance and there's still hope, I think they would want Aang and Ka to go for it."

Sokka pauses, and then looks at Aang and Ka. "What do you think? You're the ones who have to face the Fire Lord. Whatever you two decide, I'm with you."

Aang and Ka rise, silent. They look at each other, and then say determinedly, "We have to try."

* * *

Aang, Toph, Sokka, and Ka all ride on Appa's back until they reach the volcano. Toph jumps down from Appa to put her hand on the ground.

"Do you feel anything down there?"

Toph pauses, furrowing her eyebrows. "Yep," she then replies. "There are natural tunnels criss-crossing through the inside the volcano."

"Anything else?" Sokka asks. "Is there a structure somewhere?"

Toph digs her fingers into the surface, focusing harder. "There is something big, dense, and made of metal deep in the heart of the volcano."

"That must be it," Ka says.

"Sounds like a secret bunker to me," Sokka says, raising his arms above his head.

Toph quickly earthbends a hole inside the volcano, blowing up a cloud of dust. Appa and Momo stay outside as the four enter the dark caverns, Toph surveying the area and guiding them using her seismic sense.

"This way!" she exclaims, pointing. "That one's a dead end!"

"What would we do without you?" Sokka asks, following close behind her.

They walk past magma channels, the heat rising up and making the air thicker and harder to breathe in. "Perish in burning hot magma," Toph suggests.

Sokka leans over to observe the channels, and blushes. "Yeah, pretty much."

They reach an area where magma erupts from several spouts in the ground, lava coating some parts of the rock.

"The tunnel continues on the other side and it leads right to the bunker," Toph says.

Sokka nods. "We'll have to be fast, but careful." He defies his own words when he starts walking casually past a geyser, only for it to erupt violently in front of him, nearly striking him. Ka quickly airbends the magma to cool and solidify it.

"How is that careful?" she asks incredulously.

"I was wrong," Sokka says. "We need to be fast, careful, and _lucky._ "

The four leap and run their way through the chamber, very narrowly avoiding the spouts. They reach a rock ledge, completely surrounded by nothing but molten lava. There is no way to the other side in sight.

"There's no floor," Sokka groans. "It's just a river of lava."

Aang and Ka spin their staffs open. "Climb aboard and hold on tight."

Toph rides on Ka's glider while Sokka rides on Aang's. They both scream in fear as they glide across the large river of lava, just barely avoiding the ruptures of burning gas and steam, and when they reach the other side, they both all but fall onto the ground and hug it.

Then they approach a large, metal, dome-like structure, with a huge door in front.

"Wow," says Sokka, impressed. "That's some door!"

Toph grins, knocking on the metal with her fist. "Not a problem." Using metalbending, she jams into the door with her elbows, creating large cracks. Then she steps back, kisses her fingertips, and charges forward, splitting the door wide open. As soon as she steps inside, she points in one direction, and starts rushing towards it.

Sokka flails about as he enters the bunker. "I am _so_ glad we added you to the group!"

* * *

Running down the tunnels is much simpler with Toph leading the way, except she has no idea which one would be the Fire Lord's, so they end up cornering a soldier that is rounding the corner, and prepare to attack him.

However, the soldier, out of fear, gives them exactly what they need immediately, "The Fire Lord's chamber is that way, down the hall, to the left, and up the stairs—you can't miss it!"

Aang narrows his eyes suspiciously for a moment before smiling. "Thanks!"

Running in the directions the soldier gave them, Sokka pulls out his timing device. "Only thirty seconds until the total eclipse!" he exclaims.

Climbing up the stairs, they reach a set of large doors with the Fire Nation insignia surrounding them. Aang and Ka both take a deep breath.

"We're ready. We're ready to face the Fire Lord."

With a shared airbending blast, they knock the doors down and jump inside, only to see the princess of the Fire Nation sitting on the throne, looking almost bored.

"So," she says flatly, "you _are_ alive, after all." When the four gape at the sight of her, she crosses her legs and smirks at them. "I had a hunch that you survived. But it doesn't matter. I've known about the invasion for months."

* * *

He stands before a small metal door, and stares at the burning torches that surround either side of it.

"I'm ready to face you," he murmurs to himself, and ignores the burning of his scar as he opens the door.

When he enters, his father is sitting on the far side of the room, calmly drinking tea. Several guards surround him, and when he sees his son, he looks up with a frown and sets his teacup down. "Prince Zuko? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to tell the truth," he replies, feeling his firebending be stripped away. He suddenly feels incredibly naked, more so than when he had been on the run, and tightens his hands into fists.

"Telling the truth in the middle of an eclipse," Fire Lord Ozai muses. "This should be interesting." He waves his guards away, and one by one they shuffle out of the room, closing the doors behind them.

"First of all," Zuko starts, a weight being lifted off him by finally being able to say something, "in Ba Sing Se, it was _Azula_ who took down the Avatar and the Minder. Not me."

His father frowns. "Why would she lie to me about that?"

"Because the Avatar and the Minder aren't dead. They survived."

Horrified, Fire Lord Ozai all but shouts, "What!?"

"In fact, they're the ones leading this invasion. They could be on their way here right now."

His father rises from his seat and points angrily towards the door. Zuko's breath catches in his throat—visions from his past sweep by his eyes and all he sees is fire. "Get out! Get out of my sight right now if you know what's good for you!"

"That's another thing," he says, swallowing down his anxiety. "I'm not taking orders from you anymore."

"You _will_ obey me," shouts the Fire Lord," or this defiant breath will be your last!"

He pulls out his swords, pointing them towards his father's chest. "Think again. I am going to speak my mind, and _you_ are going to listen."

And after a moment of hesitation, his father sits, because while he may be known as one of the greatest firebenders in the world, that is all his combat knowledge extends to.

* * *

"Where is he!?" Aang demands, his voice echoing through the chamber. "Where's the Fire Lord!?"

Princess Azula rises from her throne and pouts. "You mean I'm not good enough for you? You're hurting my feelings."

"Stop wasting our time and give us the information." Sokka points his sword at her, narrowing his eyes. "You're powerless right now, so you're in no position to refuse."

Toph walks forward and clenches her fist. "And stick to the truth. I'll be able to tell if you're lying."

"Are you sure? I'm a pretty good liar." Azula walks a few steps forward and tilts her head to the side. "I am a four-hundred foot tall purple platypus bear with pink horns and silver wings."

Toph pauses. "Okay, you're good, I admit it." She traps Azula in pillars of earth, but she does not even flinch. "But you oughta consider telling the truth anyway!"

Suddenly, her earth trap crumbles and shakes before shattering all around her, leaving the four dumbfounded. Azula just smirks and casually brushes dust off her shoulders.

"When I left Ba Sing Se, I brought home some souvenirs," she says. "Dai Li agents!"

Two agents descend from the wall into the room, landing in front of the princess. Aang and Ka send air swipes up them with their gliders, but the agents conjure up earth walls that block the attacks and separate the group from the princess.

"This is _not_ going well," Ka mutters.

* * *

"For so long, all I wanted was for you to love me, to accept me," Zuko starts, the feelings and the words rushing out of him, and he's powerless to stop them. "I thought it was my honor that I wanted, but really, I was just trying to please you." He thinks of some of the first words Ka had ever said to him, _You are the coward, and the fool, to think that anyone other than yourself can restore your own honor._ "You, my _father,_ who banished me just for talking out of turn. My father, who challenged me, a thirteen-year old boy, to an Agni Kai. How could you possibly justify a duel with a child!?"

"It was to teach you respect!" replies his father scornfully.

"It was cruel! And it was wrong."

"Then you have learned nothing."

"No," Zuko argues, "I've learned _everything._ And I've had to learn it on my own! Growing up, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history. And somehow, the war was our way of _sharing_ our greatness with the rest of the world." He scoffs, letting out a bitter laugh. "What an amazing lie that was. The people of the world are _terrified_ by the Fire Nation. They don't see our greatness. They hate us! And we deserve it!" He thinks of being on the run, of the girl with the scarred leg, of Li, and his family. "We've created an era of fear in the world, and if we don't want the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it with an era of peace and kindness."

Fire Lord Ozai just laughs. "Your uncle has gotten to you, hasn't he?"

"Yes." And he smiles. "He has."

* * *

Aang and Ka burst through the stone wall and rush towards the princess. A stone column suddenly erupts from the surface, and the two of them jump away from it.

Bending two slabs of stone, Toph sends the agents towards the sidewalls of the room, but each agent lands on each wall and send two earth pillars straight at her. She lifts her arms to bend two earth walls to block, and then sends a stream of earth at Azula. The princess' smirk does not move an inch as she back-flips onto the throne when the stream hits her, pushing herself off the rock with her foot.

Landing on the ground, she watches as Aang and Ka race towards her. One of the agents follows close behind, rocketing across the wall. He lands before them and builds an earth wall, but not quick enough to completely block them. Aang sends an air blast towards Azula, but she slips away just as it destroys the throne. Ka tries to knock her down herself, but her bending proves futile when the princess only leaps and flips between them, landing on the ground and running away.

They continuously bend at her and continuously miss—she just keeps on dodging and running. The Dai Li agents guide her with every move she makes, and eventually she darts out of the room and into the tunnels.

"I can't pin her down!" Aang shouts, running after her. "She's too quick!"

The Dai Li agents follow close behind, and earthbend a stone wall to block the entranceway when Azula enters a tunnel. Aang and Ka break through it, chasing after them. One of the Dai Li agents is suddenly pushed over by a stone column that erupts from the side of the tunnel wall. Toph emerges from a hole and shoves the agents into separate metal beams, destroying their rock gloves and bending the grooves of the beams together.

Before they can catch up with the princess, Sokka suddenly stops. "Wait!" he calls. "Aang! Toph! Ka! Stop attacking!" Everyone stops in place and turns back towards him. "Don't you see what she's doing? She's just playing with us. She's not even trying to win this fight!"

"Not true," Azula says calmly. "I'm giving it my all."

Toph grits her teeth. "You're trying to keep us here and waste all our time!" she accuses angrily.

"Um, right, I think your friend just said that, genius," scoffs Azula sarcastically. "And since you can't see, I should tell you I'm rolling my eyes."

"I'll roll your whole head—!"

"She's just baiting you again," Sokka says in an attempt to calm her down.

"What do we do?" Ka deadpans. "Ignore her?"

"We don't have a choice," replies Sokka. "We just have to get out of here and find the Fire Lord on our own somehow."

They turn to leave. Ka furrows her eyebrows and wonders just where Zuko could possibly be.

"It's a trap," Azula calls coolly. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Everyone but Sokka stops, turning back hesitantly, but Sokka just waves his hand, "Ignore!"

There is a pause. "So, Sokka's your name, right?" calls the princess. "My favorite prisoner used to mention you all the time." Sokka immediately halts, looking over his shoulder to cast her a suspicious gaze. "She was convinced you were going to come rescue her. Of course, you never came, and she gave up on you."

A few tears fall from Sokka's eyes before he charges at the princess in a blind rage. She stands perfectly still, not moving an inch as he charges. When she grins evilly, a glint appears in her left hand, and before anyone can do anything, Toph pins Azula's hands to the tunnel wall with rock. Sokka grabs her by the shoulder with a heated gaze.

" _Where. Is. Suki!?_ "

* * *

"After I leave here today, I'm gonna free Uncle Iroh from his prison and I'm gonna beg for his forgiveness. He's the one who's been a real father to me."

Fire Lord Ozai laughs again. It's an awful sound. "Oh, that's just beautiful," he taunts. "And maybe he can pass down to you the ways of tea and failure."

"But I've come to an even more important decision," Zuko continues, then closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "I'm going to join the Avatar and the Minder and I'm going to help them defeat you."

The Fire Lord only looks smug. "Really?" he asks. "Since you're a full-blown traitor now and you want me gone, why wait? I'm powerless. You've got your swords. Why don't you just do it now?"

It's a bait. He doesn't take it, no matter how sweet revenge sounds. "Because I know my own destiny," he says firmly. "Taking you down is the Avatar and the Minder's destiny." He puts his swords back and turns on his heel. "Goodbye."

"Coward!" shouts his father, rushing to his feet. "You think you're brave enough to face me, but you'll only do it during the eclipse. If you have any real courage, you'll stick around until the sun comes out. Don't you want to know what happened to your mother?"

He stops. His throat tightens and every part of his body feels on edge. Slowly turning, he meets his father's smile, and he swallows. "What happened that night?"

"My father, Fire Lord Azulon, had commanded me to do the unthinkable to you, my own son, and I was going to do it," recounts his father, almost proudly. "Your mother found out and swore she would protect you at any cost. She knew I wanted the throne and she proposed a plan, a plan in which I would become Fire Lord, and your life would be spared."

His eyes widen, but he can't bring himself to stop listening.

* * *

"Where's Suki? Answer me!"

"Sokka, she won't talk," Aang tries, grabbing onto his shoulder.

Sokka only shoves it away, anger boiling in his chest. "Where are you keeping her!?"

Azula only grins smugly, keeping her lips firmly sealed. Ka runs a hand through her hair and resists the urge to scream.

* * *

"Your mother did vicious, treasonous things that night," says Fire Lord Ozai. "She knew the consequences and accepted them. For her treason, she was banished."

Banished. Just like him. He feels tears well his eyes. "So she's alive?"

"Perhaps," his father replies calmly. "Now I realize that banishment is far too merciful a penalty for treason." He closes his eyes, and Zuko feels it at the same time his father does. "Your penalty will be far steeper."

When Fire Lord Ozai opens his eyes, he generates lightning from his fingertips in split seconds, firing the bolt right at his son. The impact slides him back several feet, but he keeps the blast held at his stomach. The feeling of pure energy and power surrounding him is unreal, and he feels like he's floating. Redirecting the blast right back at him, he sends it right in front of his father. The explosion makes him slam into the back wall, and Zuko turns to make his escape.

With every step he takes, his palms tingle with the leftover power.

* * *

"Oh," Azula says, "sounds like firebending's back on."

She kicks her leg in a wide arc, sending out a fire blast that nearly strikes Sokka, but he leaps backwards to avoid it. She flips onto the tunnel wall and firebends the earth cuffs from her hands.

Then, she smirks.

"Dad's all the way at the end of the hall then down a secret stairway on the left," she says happily. "I'm sure he'd be more than happy to see you now."

Then she runs away, leaving the four of them alone, dismayed.

"I fell for it!" Sokka shouts, his voice riddled with shame. "I used up all our time."

"It's not your fault, Sokka," Toph assures. "Azula was ready for us. She had every move planned out."

Sokka frowns. "And now it's too late."

"Maybe it's not too late," Aang suggests, and his friends turn to look at him incredulously. "The eclipse is over. But we can face the Fire Lord anyway."

Before Ka can counter that, an all-too-familiar voice speaks up behind them, "Um, no, that's probably a bad idea."

They whirl around to see Zuko standing there, looking frazzled and wide-eyed. For a moment, Ka believes that maybe she is just seeing him again, as a projection of his soul. But then that moment ends, and she storms towards him with the rage of a thousand suns. She slices her hand across the air, airbending his back to the tunnel wall, and charges at him with a forearm to his throat so he has no chance of moving away.

"You knew!" she yells angrily. "The _entire_ Fire Nation knew and you said nothing! You _lied!_ "

"I—I thought you had a chance!" Zuko chokes out, grabbing onto her arm and digging his nails into it, but she only presses firmer.

"A _chance?_ " she repeats. "Look at us now!"

"Ka, stop!" Sokka yanks her away from Zuko, the latter hunching over and coughing into his fist.

"We came here with a job to do," Ka argues, clenching her fists, eyes ablaze. "Everyone is counting on us."

"The Fire Lord knew we were coming this time," says Toph. "We thought we had surprise on our side but we didn't. It just wasn't our day. What we need to do now is go and help our friends."

Aang puts a hand on Ka's shoulder. "I guess you're right," he says, sounding somewhat disappointed.

"You'll have another chance," Sokka says, smiling. "I know you will." Then he turns to look at Zuko, and though his eyes are distrustful, he still says, "A deal's a deal. You joinin' us or what?"

"I am," Zuko nods, and then hesitates, "but there's something I have to go do first."

"Oh, no," Ka scoffs, beginning to stomp towards him again, "there is no way I am letting you—"

"Ka, calm down," Sokka tries, grabbing onto her arms to keep her from attacking once more. "I don't think he's gonna abandon us, not now."

"Why don't you go with him?" Toph suggests. "Make sure he comes back."

Ka looks at her friends and then at Zuko. "Fine," she eventually mutters, giving Zuko no say on the matter, picking up her glider and twirling it in her hands.

"Alright," Zuko says, sounding more than a little shaken up. "Let's go."

And with that, the group splits up.

* * *

Having Ka actually next to him again invokes more feelings than he thought were possible. They embarrass him. Every time Ka so much as looks at him he feels his entire face heating up.

He tells himself to get himself together. They're in the middle of a battlefield after all.

The distance between the underground chambers and the prison is farther than he anticipated. There's a big silence between the two of them as she follows after him.

But, eventually, she breaks it: "Sorry."

He turns to look at her in surprise. Her voice has always sounded so lovely. "For what?"

"For—" She stops herself, and clears her throat. "Attacking you. Your throat."

"Oh." He slowly puts a hand to his neck, and remembers Ba Sing Se. "It's okay. I deserved it."

His reply only seems to make her angrier, but she doesn't say anything else, so he turns back forward and continues on.

When he makes it to the prison, Ka looks at him questioningly, but he ignores it. The inside of the prison is ruined and broken and there are bodies strewn over the ground. One guard is crouched in fear in the hallway, closest to his uncle's prison cell.

There is a giant hole in the middle of it, and the metal is broken around it.

"Uncle!" he shouts, and behind him Ka lets out a quiet gasp. He rushes over towards the fallen guard and grabs him by the collar. "Where is my uncle!?"

"He's gone!" stammers the guard, cold from terror. "He busted himself out. I've never seen anything like it—he was like a one-man army!"

Zuko shoves him back down to the ground and looks at Ka.

"He is not here," she says. When Zuko shakes his head, she curses under her breath and looks back towards the staircase. "We need to go. We need to catch up with the rest of the invasion force."

Zuko swallows. "Alright," he agrees, and runs after the head of white hair he seems to have always been chasing.

(In the midst of all this battling and chaos and saving-the-world business, he forgets that they're all just children, scarred and war-torn and tired.

Forced to grow up, way too soon.)

* * *

Zuko protests at first, but in the end, Ka pulls him along on the top of her glider as they ride back to their invasion force. The rest of their friends are already there, trying to decide a plan, and when they see both Ka and Zuko approaching, their expressions morph into very different emotions.

"I changed my mind," Katara says when the two hop from her glider. "I don't like this plan."

"Too late now," Ka says, letting out a sigh. "What do we do now?"

As if on cue, a fleet of airships pass above them, a hatch at the bottom of them opening.

"Try and find cover!" Sokka shouts. "I think we're about to see some bombs!"

Toph bends a ceiling of earth over them as bombs rain from the sky, detonating all around them. One of them lands right on top of them, causing their cover to start crumbling. Ka drops her staff and helps Toph by propping it up with two columns of earth. The bombs shake up their tanks, knocking a few of them over and rendering them useless.

Eventually, the bombing ceases, the airships pass over. The team runs out from under their cover and watch the airships fly past them.

"Why aren't they turning around to attack us again?" Katara asks in confusion.

"They're heading for the beach..." Aang says thoughtfully, and then gasps in alarm. "They're gonna destroy the submarines!"

"How are we all going to escape?" Sokka moans hopelessly.

"We're not," replies Hakoda, wobbling over, supported by Bato.

Sokka frowns, looking determined. "Then our only choice is to stand and fight. We have the Avatar and the Minder, we could still win."

"Yes, with the Avatar and the Minder we could still win," Hakoda says. "On another day. You kids have to leave. You have to escape on Appa together."

"What?" Katara all but shouts, and grabs onto her father. "We can't leave you behind! We won't leave anyone behind!"

Out of the corner of her eye Ka sees Zuko turn his head away, looking almost ashamed at the actions of his own nation.

"You're our only chance in the long run," Hakoda declares. "You and Sokka have to go with Aang and Ka somewhere safe." His children look back at the two of them sorrowfully. "It's the only way to keep hope alive."

Bato nods and speaks up, "The youngest of our group should go with you. The adults will stay behind and surrender. We'll be prisoners, but we'll survive this battle."

Tyro, Haru's father, walks up to them and puts his hands on his hips. "I've got some experience with Fire Nation prisons. It's not going to be easy, but we'll get by."

Sokka suddenly whirls around and points. "They're at the beach already!"

Their invasion force watches helplessly as the airships drop the bombs all over their ships. The swamp waterbenders deflect a few of them, managing to even destroy some, but the bombs destroy both the seaweed monster and all five submarines. Sokka closes his eyes at the sight.

They go to mount everyone they can onto Appa, in a small area unseen by the Fire Nation armada. Toph earthbends Teo and his father up, helping his son onto Appa's saddle. The duo say their goodbyes, and The Duke struggles his way on next.

"We'll be back for you, Dad," says Haru, hugging his father tightly.

"If we don't escape on our own first," Tyro says proudly.

They bow to one another before Haru scrambles onto Appa's saddle.

Hakoda puts his hands on his children's shoulders. "We lost today," he says, "but we've never been this close." He kneels down, groaning. "We tasted victory, and that counts for something."

"We'll miss you, Dad," Katara says, tearfully, embracing him.

"Bye, Dad," says Sokka. "We won't be apart for too long this time. I promise."

Ka watches from on top of Appa's head, ignoring the gaze Zuko is giving her from the back of the saddle. She turns to wipe away Aang's tears, and smiles back at Katara when she and her brother climb on and give them proud expressions.

Aang and Ka look towards the rest of their invasion force. "Thank you all for being so brave and so strong," they say in unison. "We will make this up to you."

Even with Appa so reluctant to leave everyone behind, Aang flicks the reins and his bison takes off into the sky. They speed off at a pace faster than the airships could catch.

"I know just the place for us to go where we'll be safe for a while," Aang calls over the sound of the wind. "The Western Air Temple!"

Ka cannot help but feel as if she has made an awful mistake.

* * *

 **lolol. zuko's part of the team about an episode sooner (though, let's be honest, he's been basically part of it for a while).**

 **next chapter is the western air temple and the firebending masters. both two very important episodes. expect some zuko-ka reconciling and zuko-team bonding. it'll be a great time.**


	20. season three: episodes 12-13

"This is humiliating."

"You mean getting thoroughly spanked by the Fire Nation or having to walk all the way to the Western Air Temple?"

"Both."

Aang turns back to them, patting his exhausted bison with one extended hand. "Sorry, guys," he apologizes, using airbending to bend a little wave of air upwards with every step he takes, "but Appa gets tired carrying all these people."

Ka just scowls at him, sweat dripping off her face, her hair tied in a hazardous bun atop her head. Aang smiles sheepishly in response.

"I wonder how the rest of the troops are," Teo muses, glancing backwards once before looking forward at Toph's back.

"They're probably on their way to a prison," Haru replies almost automatically, and then looks downcast. "Seems like my dad just go out, and now he's going back in."

Behind her, Ka sees Zuko look off to the side, almost guiltily.

"I miss Pipsqueak," chimes in The Duke.

"I miss not having blisters on my feet," continues Sokka.

"I miss snow," Ka mutters.

There is a pause. Then, suddenly, Toph's foot stamps down on the ground and she looks up with a wide grin. "Hey, we're here!" she shouts. "I can feel it!"

All there seems to be is a cliff edge, that descends into a horrifying and deep canyon. Ka walks over to the edge and glances down, almost as if she expects to see something spectacular. She sees nothing but mist, and looks at Aang questioningly.

"Uh," Katara says, "I think your feet need their eyes checked."

"No, she's right," Aang says. "We are here!"

"Wow... it's amazing!" Toph marvels.

"Looks great," Ka deadpans, still leaning over the cliff and staring at the mist down below.

Aang just snorts and unfolds his glider. "You ready?" he asks. "Race 'ya down there."

Ka narrows her eyes and takes off.

* * *

 _"What a stunning view."_

 _A freshly-scarred Prince Zuko only scowls at the words. He feels the presence of his uncle behind him, and he wonders, not for the first time and definitely not for the last, why he chose to come along._

 _"The only view I'm interested in seeing is the Avatar in chains."_

 _"You know," Uncle brings up, and he already knows what he's going to say, "the Avatar hasn't been seen for one hundred years. The chances of finding him here are very slim." He lets out a small sigh. "We may as well find his Minder before we find him."_

 _Zuko ignores him. "First we'll check each of the air temples, then we'll scour the world, searching even the most remote locations until we find him."_

 _"Prince Zuko," his uncle sighs again, "it's only been a week since your banishment. You should take some time to heal and rest."_

 _Angrily, his face burning in rage and pain, he whirls around and shouts, "What else would I expect to hear from the laziest man in the Fire Nation!? The only way to regain my honor is to find the Avatar, so I will."_

 _His uncle just walks away, and Zuko resists the urge to scream into the air._

* * *

Groaning at the memory, Zuko puts a hand on his forehead and grimaces. What an idiot he was back then. No wonder his crew didn't like him.

Zuko watches as Ka and the Avatar— _Aang,_ he reminds himself; he should probably call him by his name now—jump off the cliff and soar into the sky below. Her bending abilities have improved remarkably since he had first seen her—every step she takes in her attacks and defenses are filled to the brim with confidence and elegance. It's breathtaking.

His face is reddening. _Jeez._

He jumps on Aang's bison when the rest decide to head down and see just what's going on, and the memories come slamming back to him when they make it down to the temple.

"It's so different from the Northern Air Temple," remarks the boy in the wheelchair—Teo, he thinks he heard Ka call him. "I wonder if there are any secret rooms."

Haru (so many names for him to remember) jumps off Appa's back and starts to run off. "Let's go check it out!"

Aang and Ka land on the base of the temple alongside them. Aang starts to follow along, but Katara grabs onto his shoulder quickly.

"You guys go," she says to them. "I think we need to talk about some things."

Teo just shrugs and looks at the smaller child. "I'll race you, Duke."

"I told you, it's _The_ Duke!"

The group heads off and Zuko is left along with Aang, Ka, Katara, and Sokka. They all group together in a circle and he sort of stands behind them all, shuffling nervously.

"Why can't I go?" Aang asks, much like a child. Zuko forgets that the Avatar is only twelve years old.

"We need to decide what we're gonna do now," Katara replies, sitting down on one the fallen stone slabs next to her brother, "and since you're the Avatar, maybe you should be a part of this."

Aang sits down next to Ka. "Fair enough. So, what's the new plan?"

"Well," Sokka speaks up, "if you ask me, the new plan is the old plan! You just need to master all four elements and confront the Fire Lord before the comet comes."

"Oh, yeah," Aang drawls sarcastically, leaning back and onto his side. "That's great, no problem, I'll just do that."

"Aang," Katara sighs, "no one said it's going to be easy."

"Well, it's not even gonna be possible!"

"Why not?" Sokka asks, and gestures up towards where Zuko stands. "We have a firebending teacher right here."

At that moment, everyone turns around to look at him, except the earthbending blind girl, who turns her body but simply stares out into nothing. Zuko can feel himself sweating nervously.

"Uh," he says, "hello... Zuko here."

Nobody replies to him. Katara instead turns towards Ka and deadpans, "Can we look for Jeong Jeong instead?"

"Like we'll ever run into Jeong Jeong again," Aang scoffs.

"Who's—" Toph begins, but then cuts herself off. She folds her arms irritably. "Never mind. If it's important I'll find out."

"I know we already talked about this," Sokka says, "well, kind of, but still—the Fire Nation knew about the invasion, and that means so did he. Can we really trust him?"

He resists the urge to say I'm right here. Instead, he says, "I did know. But I really did think you could have pulled it off."

His words are met with a few moments of silence.

Aang breaks it. "Well, while we think about this let's take a nice tour around the temple!" He doesn't let anyone respond or protest before he and his lemur disappear into one of the halls.

"What's up with him?" Toph asks.

Ka sighs, looking after where her Avatar just left. "He is apprehensive."

"Freaky mind powers. Right."

"We have to go after him," Katara says. "To make plans about our future."

Ka just shrugs with one shoulder. "Go right ahead. He will most likely not listen to you." When Katara opens her mouth to protest, Ka's voice suddenly turns very serious, "Please try to understand. We were meant to face the Fire Lord, and we only were humiliated. Let him go, at least for now."

Jeez. He's forgotten how scary Ka can be.

"You're right," Katara sighs. She stands and brushes herself off. "I'm going to find a place to put all our stuff."

"I'll go," Sokka says, stretching his arms above his head.

The two of them leave, and Toph bids a quick farewell before chasing after the others in their exploration of the temple. Ka stands and starts to walk off after her, not even looking back at Zuko once.

* * *

"I still don't like this."

"I still don't know why you're being such a _baby_ about it."

The next day, the group still argues about the Fire Nation Prince being on their team and being their firebending teacher. While Ka feels the same, frankly, she is just awfully tired of all the yelling.

"It was my idea in the first place," she eventually brings up.

"And it was a _good_ one," Toph argues.

"Um—" Zuko tries to interrupt, always in the background of their conversations.

"Not now," Katara cuts him off, and then turns back to her friends. "Ka, do you really expect us to _trust_ him? I was fine with the invasion idea, but _this?_ After he lied to us _again?_ "

"Pretty much," Ka deadpans, incredibly disinterested now.

"Can I _please_ say something?" Zuko interrupts, breaking in the middle of their circle. When the others simply stare at him in shock, he goes on, "I've done my best to change. I can understand why you wouldn't trust me, and I know I've made some mistakes in the past."

"Like when you attacked our village?" Sokka scoffs.

"Or when you stole my mother's necklace and used it to track us down and capture us?"

"Look," Zuko falters, "I admit I've done some awful things. I was wrong to try to capture you, and I'm sorry that I attacked the Water Tribe. And I never should have sent that Fire Nation assassin after you. I'm going to try and stop—"

"Wait," Sokka says, whipping out his boomerang and pointing it at him, " _you_ sent Combustion Man after us?"

The rest of the group backs away from him. Ka finds herself filling with rage—yet another thing they had been lied to about.

"Well, that's not his name, but—"

" _Ohhh,_ sorry! I didn't mean to insult your friend!"

"He's not my friend!"

"That guy locked me and Katara in jail and tried to blow us all up!" Toph shouts.

Zuko opens his mouth to try and say something else, but Ka has tipped over, and she has reached the breaking point. She opens her water pouch and sends a rough wave of water towards him, sending him crashing to the ground and rolling back.

"Is it painful for you to speak the truth for once!?" she shouts. "Behind one truth is three other lies for you! Is betrayal all you know of!?"

Zuko's hands tremble. Ka falters a bit when she sees them, but she clenches her fists and turns the water into ice, trapping him to the ground.

"I'm sorry," he says, his voice heavy. "Please... I really don't have anywhere to go. I left the Fire Nation—I'm not that kind of person anymore."

Ka finds her lip wobbling and tears threaten to fall. She sniffles, embarrassingly so, and looks away when Zuko looks up with wide, startled eyes. She unfreezes him and quickly stomps away, furiously wiping at her eyes.

She does not hear the rest of the conversation.

* * *

That night, Aang walks into her makeshift room, and stares at her back where she stands at the window.

"Your anger is throwing off the spiritual balance of this place," is what he chooses to say.

"Hm," is all Ka replies with. Her anger towards Zuko shifted to sadness, then to anger all over again. She is tired of feeling this way.

Aang steps beside her. "I know how you feel. After everything, I don't think I really want him as our firebending teacher, either. But we don't really have a choice. And I think he was being sincere."

"I know," Ka mutters. "That is what pisses me off the most."

Aang blinks. "You must be really angry to talk like that."

"I am mostly upset with myself."

"Why?"

"After all this time," she replies slowly, "after everything..." She looks down and swallows thickly. "When I saw the look on his face after I attacked him, it made me realize how I feel."

"How you..." Aang echoes, and then his eyes widen. Not in shock, but in recognition. "You still like him."

Ka does not reply. She cannot.

"That's not a bad thing."

"Is it not?" Ka scoffs. "But there is no time for that."

"Ka—"

"Please go," she says, sighing. "I just want to be alone."

Her Avatar nods, and without another word, his presence is gone.

Alone, she cries.

* * *

The next morning, Katara hands out breakfast to everyone, and Ka can feel everyone's eyes on her. She is tired, and worn out, and her face is red from having cried all night and having not gotten any sleep.

"I wanna ride that tunnel down the Hall of Statues again," Teo says, patting down the bandage on his forehead. "It'll work a lot better now that I fixed my brakes." For good show, he pulls on the brakes of his wheelchair once more.

"You should be more careful," Katara chastises.

Teo just grins at her.

After breakfast, Haru, Teo, and The Duke run off into the temple once more, and the group helps Katara with cleaning up.

"Has anyone seen Zuko?" Sokka asks curiously. "I haven't seen him since Ka kicked his butt yesterday."

Ka just glances at him, and says nothing.

"He sort of ran off," Aang replies. "I guess he was upset."

"Yeah, well, good riddance," Katara mutters.

" _Not_ good riddance," Toph scoffs. "He's our best shot at a firebending master! Our _only_ one, actually."

"Toph's right," Ka says, the first she has spoken since last night. "Perhaps we should look for him."

"Never thought I'd hear _that_ from you," Sokka says.

Ka has had enough. With a flick of her wrist she sends Sokka flying back into a pillar with a blast of air.

Out of nowhere, there is a sudden blast, followed by an angered shout. " _Stop!_ " screams the voice. "I don't want you hunting the Avatar and the Minder anymore!"

Looking up, the group sees Combustion Man and Zuko fighting on a higher elevation of the temple. Zuko had shoved the other, causing his blast to be uneven and uncoordinated. The result ends up in a few rocks falling onto the platform where the team sits. They have to roll away to avoid being crushed.

"The mission is off!" Zuko shouts, standing in front of the assassin and spreading out his arms, as if he alone would shield the blasts. "I'm _ordering_ you to stop!"

Combustion Man simply shoves him away as if he were featherweight and attacks again.

Ka earthbends a shield for herself when rocks threaten to fall onto her. She airbends Sokka away before he can be crushed by another blast.

"If you keep attacking, I won't pay you!" Zuko lifts his fist, burdening with fire, as if to attack him, but the assassin simply grabs him by the head. "Alright, I'll pay you _double_ to stop!"

Zuko kicks the assassin as he fires, causing him to miss again. In retaliation, Combustion Man moves to take aim at the prince. Zuko tries to stop the attack with a wall of fire, but he is consequently pushed off the edge. The group looks over the edge of the nearby fountain they hide behind, shocked. Lowering her head, Ka sees a vine hanging on the edge of the ledge, with a certain prince holding onto the root of it.

Aang stands up from behind the fountain and runs to the side. He spins in the air and kicks up the dust around him, leaping straight up just as a blast from Combustion Man explodes beneath him. In the air, he airbends a tornado towards the assassin. He only leaps over it and fires another blast. Aang lands and back-flips away from the attack, landing next to his friends.

Combustion Man's leap causes him to fall and he slows his fall by dragging his metal hand down the wall before grabbing onto a ledge and breaking it. He lands onto a new ledge surface, and fires another blast. The blast hits the fountain, causing the water to rise up all around them. Ka bends the water from the nearby fountain and the pool to create a huge wave between her friends and their attacker. She jumps in the air then crosses them, freezing the ice in a split second and sending a flurry of icicles towards him. He only lifts his arms to shield himself, shaking them off by flinging his arms downwards.

In the midst of her attack, the group hides behind a wall, out of sight. They watch as Combustion Man scans the area for them, but to no avail.

"He's going to blast this whole place right off the cliff side!"

Katara peeks out from the side of the wall, and then jumps back, away from another incoming blast. "I can't step out to waterbend at him without being blown up and I can't get a good enough angle on him from down here."

Sokka suddenly makes a sound as if he has an idea. "I know how to get an angle on him!" he says, and pulls out his boomerang. He scoots out to the outside of the wall, and peeks around, but has to hide from another shot. He projects the angle of the shot with his boomerang, and then holds it before him. "Alright buddy, don't fail me now!" And he throws it as hard as he can.

They watch as the boomerang speeds up towards the assassin and hits him in the head, right where his third eye tattoo is, causing him the fall to the ground. The boomerang then quickly turns back.

"Yeah, boomerang!" Sokka cheers, jumping up and catching it with a grin.

Combustion Man slowly rises to his feet, shaking a bit.

Sokka's smile immediately falls. "Aww, boomerang!"

They start to run back to their hiding spot, but their assassin suddenly looks dizzy and wavers. His next blast fails to escape, and his head pulses before there is an explosion all around him. The building he stands on crumbles and falls apart.

Haru, Teo, and The Duke peer out from behind a pillar, wide-eyed.

"What just happened?"

* * *

Zuko walks up to the group, looking a bit shaken up, but alive, after nearly being killed by the assassin.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but..." Aang pauses. "Thanks, Zuko."

"Hey, what about me?" Sokka asks. "I did the boomerang thing."

"Listen," Zuko starts, and Sokka goes ignored, "I know I didn't explain myself very well yesterday. I've been through a lot in the last few years and it's been hard. But I'm realizing that I had to go through all those things to learn the truth. I thought I had lost my honor, and that somehow, my father could return it to me. But like someone once told me," Zuko looks directly at Ka with a strange look, "I was a coward, and a fool to think anyone other than myself could have restored my honor. It's something you earn for yourself, by choosing to do what's right. All I want to do now is play my part in ending this war, and I know my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world."

Ka looks down at the ground, shuffling her feet.

"I know the original agreement was just for the invasion, and I've already hurt that agreement by my constant lies and mess-ups," he says, his words more directed to Ka than anything. "But I realize that I'm... I'm just like my element. Fire can be dangerous and wild, and uncontrollable, so I have to be more careful, so that I don't hurt anyone else unintentionally."

Aang's eyes widen at his words, and takes a step forward. "I think you _are_ supposed to be our firebending teacher," he says. "When we first tried to learn firebending, I burned Katara, and after that, I never wanted to firebend again. But now I know you understand how easy it is to hurt the people you love. I'd like you to teach me." He bows to him.

Zuko bows back, smiling. "Thank you. I'm so happy you've accepted me into your group."

"Not so fast," Aang warns. "I still have to ask my friends if it's okay with them. This is the group you want to join, our family, not just some invasion plan." He turns towards Toph and tilts his head. "Toph?"

She simply shrugs. "I've literally been trying to get this to happen since Ka brought up the dang plan. Go ahead and let him join."

Then, Sokka.

Sokka just sighs. "Hey, all I want is to defeat the Fire Lord. If you think this is the way to do it, then I'm all for it."

Katara next.

She is silent for a moment, glaring at Zuko with all the anger in the world. The latter starts to sweat, but then she reluctantly replies, "I'll go along with whatever you think is right.

Ka is the final, deciding vote. Aang turns towards her and says, "You are my Minder; Zuko would have to teach you too. This is your decision."

She finally looks up from the ground, and up at Zuko. He does not look scared, but almost somewhat sad. It is almost like she can see every touch they ever shared in Ba Sing Se, and even before then. At the South Pole, during the pirate raid—everything.

"I trusted you to join the invasion," Ka says, her voice a bit wobbly. She clears her throat, "And, maybe, even a little bit beyond that. But... you betrayed that trust."

Now Zuko begins to look more nervous.

"Spirits are known to be forgiving," Ka says firmly. "Well, most of them, at least, and I refuse to never give anyone another chance, like my father." She uncrosses her arms and looks at him firmly. "You are not forgiven, but rather accepted." After a moment of hesitance, she bows to him.

Zuko beams, bowing excitedly. "I won't let you down! I promise!"

Not again, goes unspoken.

* * *

 _"If I have to, I will spend every day of the rest of my life hunting the Avatar. I know it's my destiny to capture him."_

 _Uncle puts a hand on his shoulder, and smiles._

 _"You know, Prince Zuko, destiny is a funny thing. You never know how things are going to work out. But if you keep an open mind, and an open heart, I promise you will find our own destiny someday."_

Another memory hits him as Zuko gazes down at a painting of Iroh, from the bag that had been tucked away in the corner of his room. He then frowns in disappointment at himself, and turns around to put it away.

What meets him is a disgruntled Katara standing in the doorway.

"You might have everyone else here buying your... transformation," she begins threateningly, "but you and I both know you've struggled with doing the right thing in the past." She approaches him. "So let me tell you something, right now. You make one step backward, one slip-up, give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang or Ka, and you won't have to worry about your destiny anymore. Because I'll make sure your destiny ends... right then and there. Permanently."

She walks away and slams the door behind her. Zuko simply stares.

* * *

Their first firebending lesson is early morning the following day, on the balcony of an upside-down pagoda.

"I know you're nervous," Zuko says, and really, Aang is the more nervous one than she, "but remember, firebending in of itself is _not_ something to fear."

Aang sighs heavily. "Okay. Not something to fear."

"But if you don't respect it, _it'll chew you up and spit you out like an angry komodo rhino!_ "

Aang yelps in fear. Ka, bored, puts her hands over her ears.

"Now show me what you've got," Zuko instructs, stepping back behind them a little. "Any amount of fire you can make."

Aang looks at Ka nervously, but she just nods at him, and the two of them make their attempt simultaneously. A tiny cloud of smoke appears out of Aang's hand, while nothing appears from Ka's. She looks at her palms with angry eyes.

"Just like with Jeong Jeong," she mutters.

"It is your opposite element," Aang says, and looks over at Zuko sheepishly. "Maybe I need a little more instruction. Perhaps a demonstration?"

"Good idea," Zuko agrees. "You might wanna take a couple steps back."

He takes the others' place while his students walk backwards to watch. Zuko inhales deeply, and he steps forward, grunting. A very small flame appears from his fist. Aang applauds.

"What was that?" Zuko asks, stepping back. "That was the worst firebending I've ever seen!"

"Yeah," Ka agrees, deadpanned.

Aang elbows her. "I thought it was... nice," he offers.

Zuko attempts to firebend three more times, but each attempt results in the same, very tiny flames. He groans angrily and looks at his hands. "Why is this happening?"

"Maybe it's the altitude," Aang tries, scratching his head in confusion.

"Yeah, could be..."

However, simply going further into the temple changes nothing. Aang and Ka sit on a broken pillar, watching Zuko attempt firebending, each blast tiny and weak. Aang yawns and lies down on Ka's lap. She pats his head with a sigh.

"Just breathe, and..." Zuko murmurs to himself, then delivers another blast, with no improvement.

Ka raises her eyebrows. "That one felt kind of hot," she and Aang say in unison.

"Don't patronize me!" he yells angrily, his face turning red from embarrassment. "You know what it's supposed to look like!"

"Sorry, Sifu Hotman," Aang says.

" _And stop calling me that!_ "

Sokka strolls towards them, munching on an apple. He sits down near the three, watching them with a smirk.

"Hey, jerks!" he greets when they turn towards him. "Mind if I watch you two jerks do your jerkbending?"

Ka rolls her eyes.

"Get out of here!" Zuko yells, lashing his arm and pointing to the side.

"Okay," Sokka says, unaffected, "take it easy. I was just kiddin' around." He drops his half-eaten apple on the ground and gets up, turning around, laughing to himself as he walks away. "Jerkbending, still got it."

Zuko drops his head and groans.

"Still think finding Jeong Jeong is a bad idea?" Ka murmurs.

Aang elbows her again. She smiles from behind her hands.

* * *

That night, Ka sees Zuko approach the group as they sit around the campfire.

"Listen everybody," he says, "I've got some pretty bad news. I've lost my stuff."

There is a pause. Toph then raises both of her hands. "Don't look at me! I didn't touch your stuff."

"I'm talking about my firebending," he clarifies. "It's gone."

Everyone looks at each other, and then suddenly Katara bursts into laughter. At Zuko's annoyed glare, she says, "I'm sorry. I'm just laughing at the irony. You know, how it would've been nice for us if you lost your firebending a long time ago."

"Well," Zuko says, "it's not lost. It's just... weaker for some reason."

"Maybe you're not as good as you think you are," Katara scoffs.

Toph winces. "Ouch."

Ignoring the insult, Zuko's head perks up. "I bet it's because I changed sides."

Katara picks up her bowl and drinks from it. "That's ridiculous."

"No," Ka interrupts, looking up at him. "Your firebending must come from rage."

"Maybe you just don't have enough anger to fuel it the way you used to," Aang continues, nodding in agreement.

Sokka leans towards Zuko. "So, all we need to do is make Zuko angry. Easy enough." He pokes Zuko several times with the hilt of his sword in his head and waist, giggling each time.

"Okay, cut it out!" he yells, taking the sword and throwing it. Sokka falls onto his head. Rubbing at his nose, Zuko sighs. "Look, even if you're right, I don't want to rely on hate and anger anymore. There has to be another way."

"You're gonna need to learn to draw your firebending from a different source," Toph speaks up. "I recommend the original source." She takes a bite from her food.

"How's he supposed to do that?" Sokka asks, then suddenly looks excited. "By jumping into a volcano?"

"No," Toph replies. "Zuko needs to go back to whatever the original source of firebending is."

"So... is it jumping into a volcano?"

"I don't know." Toph sets her bowl down. "For earthbending, the original benders were badgermoles. One day, when I was little, I ran away and hid in a cave. That's where I met them. They were blind, just like me, so we understood each other. I was able to learn earthbending, not just as a martial art, but as an extension of my senses. For them, the original earthbenders, it wasn't just about fighting, it was their way of interacting with the world."

"That's amazing, Toph!" Aang beams. Even Zuko looks a little impressed. Aang looks at his friends and says, "I learned from the monks, but the original airbenders were the sky bison." He looks at his bison with a grin. "Maybe you can give me a lesson sometime, buddy."

Appa just growls in reply.

Ka looks at her Avatar and shrugs. "The original waterbender was the moon. But I learned from spirits."

"Well, this doesn't help me," Zuko says, frowning. "The original firebenders were the dragons, and they're extinct."

Ka blinks, tilting her head. The extinction of a species would have made a big commotion with the spirits, and no one had ever mentioned anything about the lack of dragons in the Spirit World—at least, not to her knowledge.

"That is impossible," she says.

"Yeah," Aang agrees, scooting closer. "Roku had a dragon, and there were plenty of dragons when I was a kid."

"Well, they aren't around anymore, okay!?"

"Okay, okay," Aang moves his arms in an appeasing manner. "I'm sorry."

"But maybe there's another way," Zuko then says, walking towards a fountain. "The first people to learn from the dragons were the ancient Sun Warriors."

Aang rises to his feet and walks towards Zuko. "Sun Warriors?" he repeats. "Well, I know _they_ weren't around when I was a kid."

" _Was a kid,_ " Ka mutters under her breath, sighing as she goes to follow him.

"No," Zuko says, turning, "they died off thousands of years ago. But their civilization wasn't too far from where we are now. Maybe we can learn something by poking around their ruins."

"It's like the monks used to tell me!" Aang says excitedly. "Sometimes, the shadows of the past can be felt by the present."

"So, what?" Sokka asks. "Maybe you'll pick up some super-old Sun Warrior energy just by standing where they stood a thousand years ago?"

"More or less," Zuko simply says. "Either I find a new way to firebend, or the Avatar and the Minder have to find a new teacher."

* * *

So, they go on an adventure. Ka is not happy. She sticks close to Aang on Appa's head, refusing to look at Zuko, who looks bored as he lays down in the back of Appa's saddle.

"We've been riding for hours," he complains. "I don't know why, but I thought this thing would be a lot faster."

"Maybe it's because you could never catch up to us," Ka says. She hears Zuko make an angry huff behind her, and smirks.

Appa growls from below.

Aang turns his head and smiles. "Appa's right, Zuko. In our group, typically we start our missions with a more upbeat attitude!"

"We do?" Ka asks.

"I can't believe this," Zuko whispers to himself.

"Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it," Aang assures.

They get to the ruins a little bit later, and they are left in awe at the sight of it. The temples and buildings are somewhat hidden by the beautiful mountains and surrounded by pure wonder. Ka can feel the energy that surrounds this place as soon as she steps foot onto the ruins.

They walk through them for a little bit in silence, before Zuko breaks it.

"Even though these buildings are ancient, there's something eerily familiar about them," he says. 'I can tell the Fire Sage's temples are somehow descended from these."

"Okay..." Aang says slowly. "We've learned something about architecture. Hopefully, we'll learn something about firebending, too. The past can be a great teacher."

Aang suddenly trips a wire. A small portion of the path in front of them falls down and spikes protrude from holes. Aang nearly falls onto them but he quickly blows a blast of air from his mouth and he somersaults onto the other side.

"Ka, Zuko," he says, turning around and shaking, "I think the past is trying to kill me."

Zuko kneels down to look at the spikes. "I can't believe it," he says, and picks up the tripwire to examine it. "This booby trap must be centuries old and it still works."

"Odd," Ka comments, furrowing her eyebrows. Surely the weather elements would have caused it to falter, eventually, for it being outside. Zuko rises to his feet and nods at her.

"There's probably a lot more," Aang says. "Maybe this means we shouldn't be here."

Zuko takes two steps back and makes a run for the wall adjoining the path. He leaps onto it, kicking himself off the wall to land on the other side of the spikes.

Then he smirks. "Where's that upbeat attitude you were talking about?"

Ka takes one step back and then kicks herself off the ground with airbending. She lands gracefully on the other side, flipping her hair out of her face.

"Besides," Zuko continues, his eyes suddenly locked onto her, "people, uh, don't make traps unless they've got something worth protecting."

She just scowls at him and turns to follow Aang. Her Avatar snickers quietly.

When they walk up a flight of stairs, they see a building with a large carving embedded into the side of it.

"Look," Aang calls, "this seems promising."

Walking up, they discover that the carving depicts a person, a Sun Warrior, surrounded by the flames of two dragons.

Aang tilts his head. "Though, I'm not sure what this tells us about the original source of firebending."

"They look pretty angry to me," Zuko says.

Aang frowns. "I thought the dragons were friends with the Sun Warriors."

"Well, they had a funny way of showing it." Zuko looks down for a moment and starts to walk away.

Ka hesitates to follow them, and instead stares at the carving for another few moments. The warrior in the depiction does not look upset, or afraid, or angry—but rather determined, or even triumphant. There is no pain that comes from the carving. She gently runs her fingers over it before turning away and catching up after the others.

"Zuko," she hears Aang's voice as she approaches, "something happened to the dragons in the last hundred years." Zuko stops walking, but does not turn. "Something you're not telling us."

He hesitates. "My great-grandfather Sozin happened."

He starts to walk again, but does not say anything more until they start to walk across a bridge. Ka picks up the pace a little to walk next to her Avatar, and they exchange a look when he begins to speak.

"He started the tradition of hunting dragons for glory," Zuko says. "They were the ultimate firebenders. And if you could conquer one, your firebending talents would become legendary and you'd earn the honorary title, Dragon." They approach a path where a dragon's statue on both sides seemingly guard it, and Zuko pauses in place. "The last great dragon was conquered long before I was born," he then says, and puts one of his hands on one of the statues, "by my uncle."

"Dragon of the West," Ka realizes, feeling breathless.

"But," Aang protests, confused, "I thought your uncle was... I dunno, _good?_ "

"He had a complicated past," replies Zuko, looking over his shoulder at them. "Family tradition, I guess. Let's just move on."

* * *

They reach a large wall with a gate on it. In front of it is a column with a sunstone in the center.

When they approach, Aang immediately drops his staff and rushes to the gates, trying with all his might to yank them open, to no avail. "It's locked up!"

Zuko scratches his head, looks behind him at the sunstone, and then steps to the side to look down at the ground. "Wait," he then says, and Ka moves out of the way as well, and the light from the sunstone beams into a circular carving on the ground. "It's a celestial calendar."

"Ugh," Ka groans.

"Just like the Fire Sages have in their temples," Zuko continues. He looks at the sunstone that rests above the gates. "I bet that sunstone opens the door, but only when sunlight hits at just the right angle. On the solstice."

"Monkeyfeathers!" Aang exclaims.

"The solstice again?" Ka goes on.

"We can't wait here that long," the two of them say in unison.

Seemingly unfazed by their strange, simultaneous speech, Zuko unsheathes one of his swords. "No, we can't." He squats down and looks between each sunstone. "But we might be able to speed time up." He places his sword on the angle of the light, causing it to reflect. "Let's see if we can outsmart the sunstone." He aims the light towards the other sunstone, and for a few long moments, nothing happens but glowing.

"Nothing's happening," Aang says, stating the obvious.

"C'mon..."

After another few moments, the ground trembles and the doors begin to shake as they open. Aang picks up his staff and Zuko puts his sword away with a triumphant smile as they walk towards the open gates.

"You know, Zuko," Aang says, "I don't care what everyone else says about you." He nudges Zuko with his elbow. "You're pretty smart."

Zuko smiles at the compliment, but he quickly realizes what was truly said when Ka snorts. He just grumbles to himself afterwards, and they walk inside the dark room.

Aang suddenly runs into a statue of a man with an angry expression inside the room, and he gasps in shock.

"Relax," Zuko says. "They're just statues."

When the light pours into the room, it reveals a set of statues lined up in a circle, centered around the room. As Aang and Zuko go look at the statues, Ka walks up to the engraving underneath one of them, kneeling down and staring at the words on it.

"The Dancing Dragon, " she murmurs, furrowing her eyebrows.

Looking around the statues, she realizes that there are two of each one, both in matching moves, like a pair dance. She rises back to her feet and stands in front of the first statue, looking down at her feet before mirroring the statue's posture. Her leg presses a button on the ground.

"Hey," she calls, turning back to the others. "This is a performance. I believe it would unlock something."

Zuko tilts his head. "But it only needs two people. And there's three of us."

They all glance at one another, and Ka sees Aang's sparkling look from behind her back. She furrows her eyebrows at him.

"Would we even be able to?"

"What?" Zuko asks.

"Our spiritual connection is cut off," Ka informs. "If we cannot even enter our shared state, can we even fuse?"

"Even what? "

"I dunno," Aang says, "but it's worth a shot, right? Then there's be two people."

Ka hesitates, and then sighs. "Alright. Let's do this."

"Do what, exactly?"

She gives Zuko a sharp look. "Step back." And so he does.

Ka takes Aang's hand, and he pulls her forward.

* * *

Zuko remembers seeing the Avatar and the Minder's strange... _fusion_ a whopping two times. The first time, seeing their combined silhouette in the center of that water monster in the Northern Water Tribe, and the second time, seeing their enraged form at Ba Sing Se's crystal catacombs.

This would have to be the third time, and for the first time, their fusion is not filled with rage, and does not glow.

Instead, it... _they_ simply stand there, looking up at Zuko with a mix of confusion and awe.

There are qualities of both Aang and Ka in them (Zuko isn't even sure _what_ to call them). Their fusion seems to be a mixture of their heights, shorter than Ka yet taller than Aang—with an indeterminate age; though they look very young. Their hair is long and wild and white with brown streaks throughout, covering everywhere but their forehead, which is smooth and shaved to reveal an airbending tattoo with Ka's black tattoos running throughout. One of their eyes is violet while the other brown, and their skin is as dark as Ka's with patches of pale in varying parts of their body.

Zuko suddenly feels very freaked out when their fusion pauses to stare at their hands, as if testing out their movements.

"Uh," he says aloud, taking a step back.

The fusion then snaps their head up, and makes a face like they're trying to smile, except they don't know how. "Let's dance," comes their voice, and it's an echoed mixture of Aang's and Ka's.

"Right," Zuko says, and nervously settles himself on the other side of the room, in front of the statue.

He hears the fusion make their first move, and he copies. He finds that his feet press against buttons on the ground, and his eyes widen.

"The statues are giving us a lesson," says the fusion. "I think this is some kind of Sun Warrior firebending form."

Zuko frowns, and moves to the next form. "This better teach us some really good firebending."

One by one they weave themselves through each form, and they end with the final form: the two statues with their waists bent towards each other, their arms in the direction of one another, and their fists just barely touching. As soon as Zuko's knuckles touch the fusion's, there is a bright light and Aang and Ka collapse to the ground, separated.

They both groan, rubbing their heads and slowly pushing themselves, and Zuko leans down to help them both up. They all pause in place when the center of the ground detracts and a column emerges. There is a yellow, egg-shaped sunstone on top of it, beautifully decorated and almost glowing.

"There it is," Ka deadpans, half-joking, "the key to firebending."

"Hurray!" Aang cheers, throwing his hands up in the air. Then he pauses, and lowers his arms. "Wait, what exactly is that?"

Zuko walks over to the egg-shaped stone. "It's some kind of... mystical gemstone."

He starts to raise his arms to grab it, and Ka rushes over to smack his hands away. "Do not touch it!" she scolds.

Zuko stops in place. "Why not?" he asks.

"Must you just reach out for anything that shines?" Ka asks, putting her hands on her hips. "Remember what happened outside with the spikes?"

"I'm very suspicious of giant glowing gems sitting on pedestals," Aang agrees, looking from side to side nervously.

Zuko ignores the two of them and picks it up. Ka throws her arms up in the air and turns her back to him in frustration.

"It feels almost _alive,_ " she hears him say.

When he tries to set it back down, a geyser of vicious slime suddenly erupts out from the pedestal and slaps Zuko toward the grates at the ceiling, trapping him up there.

"Oh, no, it's another trap!" Aang gasps.

"Does no one ever listen to me?" Ka sighs.

More slime pours from the column, and the two of them step away as it begins to fill up the room. Zuko struggles from the grates, trying and failing to set himself free.

"It's like some kind of glue!" he shouts.

Aang jumps across the slime and grabs both he and Ka's staffs. He tosses Ka's to her, and then climbs onto a statue's head and airbends a gust of wind towards Zuko. It only pushes him from his back to his front. The slime is rising quickly and Ka gasps when the hem of her pants is caught in it. She rips it away, not without tearing a bit of her clothes, and watches as Aang jumps up towards the grates. She airbends herself up to follow, and ends up between Aang and Zuko at the top.

"I can't move!" Aang cries, trying to pull his hands away. "Zuko, do something!"

"Me?" the boy in question repeats incredulously. "I can't move either!"

The entire room soon fills with slime, and they are pushed against the grates by the force of it. After a few moments, it stops, and Ka frowns at the sight of the sunny sky, squinting her eyes.

"It stopped," Aang says.

"At least we have air," Zuko says, trying to make the most out of it. "Maybe if we stay calm, we can figure a way out of this."

* * *

They don't figure a way out of this.

The day turns into night, and they are still trapped. For a while they simply sit in silence, but the pressure of the slime against her body has made Ka irritable.

"You _had_ to pick up the glowing egg," she says, "didn't you?"

"At least I made something happen!" he argues. "If it were up to you two, we'd never have made it past the courtyard!"

Her eye twitches. "And just what is that supposed to mean?"

Before Zuko can go any further, Aang suddenly opens his mouth very wide and screams, " _Help!_ "

"Who are you yelling to?" Zuko demands. "Nobody's lived here for centuries."

"Well, what do you think we should do?"

Zuko pauses. "Think about our place in the universe?"

Ka groans. Aang sighs. A sandal'd foot wanders up to them.

"Who is down there?"

* * *

They had been found by the Sun Warrior chief, and now they sit in front of a building, the slime covering them being licked away by aardvark sloths. A group of Sun Warrior men and women surround them in circles, glaring at them.

"For trying to take our sunstone, you must be severely punished!" declares the chief.

"We didn't come here to take your sunstone," Zuko quickly deters. "We came here to find the ancient origin of all firebending."

One of the Sun Warriors steps forward. "Yeah, right," he scoffs, looking at the chief, cradling the sunstone in his arms. "They are obviously thieves, here to steal Sun Warrior treasures."

"Please," Aang pleads, "I don't normally play this card, but..." He puts a hand on his chest. "I'm the Avatar."

"And I am his Minder," Ka says, looking at the puzzled people. "Just hear us out.

The three of them stand. Zuko ends up going first.

"My name is Zuko, Crown Prince of the Fire Nation." Then he falters and looks down at the ground. "O-or at least I used to be. I know my people have distorted the ways of firebending, to be fueled by anger and rage. But now I want to learn the true way, the original way. When we came here, I never imagined the Sun Warrior's civilization was secretly alive. I am truly humbled to be in your presence." The three of them bow respectfully. "Please, teach us."

The chief furrows his eyebrows. "If you wish to learn the ways of the Sun, you must learn them from the masters, Ran and Shaw."

"Ran and Shaw?" Aang echoes, raising his head. "There are two of them?"

"When you present yourself to them, they will examine you," the chief continues, stepping closer to them. Then he looks directly at Zuko. "They'll read your hearts, your souls, and your ancestry." Zuko gulps, looking worried. "If they deem you worthy, they'll teach you. If they don't, you'll be destroyed on the spot."

The chief then walks back, and the three look at each other with wide eyes.

 _Destroyed?_ Ka mouths, her eyes wide. Aang just shrugs.

* * *

When the sun rises, they are taken to an archway outside of a building.

"If you're going to see the masters," explains the chief, "you must bring them a piece of the Eternal Flame." The Eternal Flame in question is a large, burning blaze inside of an arc on the side of the building. Several Sun Warriors sit around in. "This fire is the very first one. It was given to man by the dragons. We have kept it going for thousands of years."

Zuko stares at the fire in awe. "I don't believe it..."

"You will each take a piece of it to the masters," continues the chief, "to show your commitment to the sacred art of firebending."

Aang scratches the back of his neck. "Um," he hesitates, "Mr. Sun Chief, sir, yeah, I'm not a firebender yet." He sheepishly points to Zuko. "Couldn't my friend here carry my fire for me?"

"No," replies the chief, unyielding. He turns back to face the fire, and Aang wavers uneasily.

Three female warriors take a part of the Eternal Flame into their hands and hold it out before them.

"This ritual illustrates the essence of Sun Warrior philosophy," says the chief. As he speaks, the three female warriors split the fires in their hands into two parts before joining them together once more. "You must maintain a constant heat. The flame will go out if you make it too small. Make it too big, and you might lose control."

Aang cringes. Zuko steps forward and brings his arms out. One of the female warriors delicately places the flame into his hands, and he looks at it with wide, enamored eyes.

The next warrior offers the flame of Aang. He hesitates. "I'm sorry," he says, "I'm just a little nervous." He and Ka both take their flames at the same time, and he smiles in relief when the flame does not go out in his grip. "It's like a little heartbeat."

"Fire is life," says the chief, "not just destruction. You will take your flames up there." He points towards the tip of the crooked mountain beside the settlement. "The cave of the masters is beneath that rock."

Ka exhales slowly, and watches as the fire in her palms rises and falls with each breath that she takes. Her waterbending hands are not used to such heat.

She will have to be careful.

* * *

They wander through a steep forest until they get to a rocky surface, slowly but surely reaching closer and closer towards the tip of the mountain.

As they walk, Aang starts to drag behind, until Zuko is very much ahead of the both of them.

"Hurry up," Zuko calls, climbing on top of a rock and looking behind him.

"I can't," Aang protests. "If I walk too fast, my flame will go out." He props himself up on top of the rock and stares at his flame nervously.

"Your flame's gonna go out because it's too small," he says. "You're too timid; give it more juice."

Aang climbs another rock. "But what if I can't control it?"

"You can do it," Zuko says determinedly. "I know you can." He smiles. "You're a talented kid."

Aang smiles at the compliment, and manages to catch up with the other two. Ka watches her flame carefully as they walk up the path. It certainly has not gotten any bigger since they began their journey, and it wavers with every step she takes.

"You've been quiet," Aang comments.

"I am trying to not mess up," Ka says, glancing at him.

"You won't," Zuko says sincerely. "You're probably the most talented out of us both."

"Hm, well," Ka mutters, her face pinking, unsure of how to reply. She simply falls back into silence.

They reach the top of the mountain soon enough, to see a smooth surface, almost like the interior of a temple, with a large staircase that leads up to two vertical caves, a bridge in the center. The Sun Warriors have already arrived, lined up in a circle, drums in front of a few of them.

The Sun Warrior chief and two others walk up towards the three of them. "Facing the judgement of the firebending masters will be very dangerous for you," he says. "Your ancestors are directly responsible for the dragons' disappearance." Zuko looks off to the side. "The masters might not be so happy to see you."

"I know I wouldn't be," comments the warrior who had held the egg-shaped sunstone before.

"But once they find out I'm the Avatar..." Aang tries.

"Have you forgotten that you vanished," cuts the chief, angered, "allowing the Fire Nation to wreak havoc on the world? The decline of the dragons is your burden, too." The chief then looks towards Ka, and furrows his eyebrows. "Even a powerful spirit such as yourself is not exempt from this judgement."

"I understand," Ka agrees, nodding, and bows.

He nods his head back, and turns. Rooting his staff on the ground, it sends out an unspoken call for the Sun Warriors in the circle to get into some sort of position. The chief takes a small portion from each of their flames and gives the flames to the two Sun Warriors who had been with him. They each go to one side, and weave a large, flaming circle.

"We could turn back now," Aang quickly says, his voice hushed. "We've already learned more about fire than we'd hoped." He holds up his flame and gives a weak smile.

"We should see this through to the end," Ka argues, her tone scolding.

Zuko nods in agreement. "We're gonna meet these masters and find out what's so great about them."

Aang looks towards the caves nervously. "What if they judge us, and attack us?"

"Well, we're the Fire Prince, the Avatar, and the Minder." He unsheathes his swords just enough to show the glinting blade. "I think we could take these guys in a fight, whoever they are."

He smiles, but Ka elbows him in the side roughly with a disapproving look. He groans and rubs his side, pouting at her.

Aang nods uneasily, nonetheless, and they turn back towards the courtyard. Alternate Sun Warriors have created their own rings of fire.

"Bring 'em out!" Zuko shouts.

"Chanters!" calls the chief.

The warriors with drums before them begin beating them in a synchronized rhythm. The warriors between them rise and bow as Aang, Ka, and Zuko walk towards the large stairs. The chief steps aside to let them pass, and they all exhale slowly before beginning the climb. Everything feels incredibly intensified and boosted with the sounds and the bowing and the chanting. Ka feels her anxiety rise up to her throat and her flame trembles.

Zuko puts a hand on her back to soothe her. Any other time she would have shoved him away, but she only glances at him and then looks away.

They make it to the top soon enough, and Ka looks at each dark cavern that surrounds them.

"Those who wish to meet the masters, Ran and Shaw, will now present their fire."

There is a moment of hesitation, but then Aang and Zuko each turn towards a respective cave and bow down with their hands outstretched. Ka slowly separates her flame into two, and holds out both of her hands towards each cave, facing the staircase and biting her lip.

"Sound the call!"

There is the sound of a loud horn. One of the caves rumbles and Aang trembles. He throws his hand down, accidentally extinguishing his flame, and looks over at Zuko and Ka. "What's happening?" He groans when Zuko doesn't reply and quickly returns back to his position, but then realizes just what happened to his flame, and gasps. "My fire went out."

"What do you want me to do?" Zuko whispers.

"Give me some of yours." Aang reaches over Zuko's shoulders for his flame, and Zuko pushes him behind.

The struggle of both of them causes Ka to fall onto her back, and her fire goes out, as well. She sighs in frustration, pushing herself on her palms and simply watching the struggle of the two idiots before her.

"No, just make your own."

"I can't!"

"Get some from those warriors. Hurry! Stop cheating off me!"

"Quit being stingy!"

Aang all but jumps on Zuko's back, scratching at Zuko's wrist, but he ends up pulling his arm down instead, extinguishing the flame. The two both slowly look at each other, and the inside of the two caves rumble.

"Uh oh," Aang mutters.

Two eyes glow from inside one of the caves and a red dragon suddenly comes roaring out, circling around the bridge. From the other cave erupts a blue dragon.

"These are the masters," Zuko realizes.

Ka rises to her feet. "Still think we can take them?"

"Shh! I never said that."

The dragons circle the bridge from below. The warriors back on the courtyard bow respectfully. There is no judgement, not yet, for the dragons continue to fly and circle and whip wind all around them.

"Zuko, Ka," Aang whispers, turning, "I think we're supposed to do the Dragon Dance with them."

"What?" Zuko whisper-yells, incredulously. "What about this situation makes you think they want us to _dance?_ "

"Well, I think they want us to do something, " Aang urges. "Let's just try it."

Zuko frowns. "Fine."

Aang and Ka take each other by the hand, and close their eyes, and a moment later they are seeing the world from the same set of eyes. No words are exchanged as they lift their arms and one leg, mimicking the first position. They encircle one another as they move along the bridge, and the blue dragon flies behind their fusion, following the shape of their arms. The red dragon trails after Zuko, respectfully. As they dip and dive, so do the dragons accordingly.

When they perform the final move, yet again, the touch from another person results in a bright light and the separation of their fusion. Ka manages to keep herself from falling this time, and she pulls Aang up, turning just in time to see the red dragon facing her, its face incredibly close to her. Behind her, the blue dragon faces Zuko.

Suddenly, both dragons inhale at once, and when their mouths open, fire erupts from their throats and engulf the three of them in a blazing rainbow vortex. The flames come nowhere near to touching them, and instead they stare, and watch, and dazzle, as images and thoughts and memories they have never seen before are revealed before their very eyes and their very hearts.

"Wow," Aang breathes.

Zuko is quiet for a long moment. "I understand."

The vortex slowly dissipates and the dragons curl their bodies, fly up, circle one another one time, and disappear into their caves. The three of them left behind on the bridge cannot move from where they stand for a few long moments. Then they turn, look at one another, and descend down the stairs.

"Their fire was beautiful," Zuko says. "I-I saw so many colors, colors I've never imagined!"

"Like firebending harmony," Aang says, smiling.

"It was like..." Ka pauses, and then looks towards the two of them. "It was like feeling the love of everything in the world at once."

"Yes," says the Sun Warrior chief when they reach the bottom of the stairs. "They judged you, and gave you visions of the meaning of firebending."

"I can't believe there are still living dragons," Zuko says, his eyes wide. "My uncle Iroh said he faced the last dragon and killed it."

"He lied," Ka says, half-confused.

"Actually," breaks in the smiling chief, "it wasn't a total lie. Iroh was the last outsider to face the masters. They deemed him worthy and passed the secret onto him as well."

"He must have lied to protect them," Zuko realizes, looking down in shock, "so no one else would hunt them..."

"All this time, I thought firebending was destruction," Aang says. "Since I hurt Katara, I've been too afraid and hesitant. But now I know what it really is... it's energy, and life."

"Yeah," Zuko agrees. "It's like the sun, but _inside_ of you." He clenches his fist and looks up at the chief. "Do you guys realize this?"

"Well, our civilization is called the Sun Warriors, so... yeah."

" _That's_ why my firebending was so weak before," Zuko goes on, sounding like he has had a revelation (in all honesty, he has). "Because for so many years,"—he turns towards Aang and Ka—"hunting you was my drive... it was my purpose! So when I joined you, I lost sight of my inner fire. But now, I have a new drive. I _have_ to help you defeat my father and restore balance to the world."

He takes a deep breath and fires two powerful blasts, the fire somehow brighter than anything Ka has ever seen before. Aang pauses before doing the same, and he grins as the flames disappear around his fingers.

Then they both look to Ka expectantly. She hesitates before taking a step back, and kicking her foot into the air, creating an arc of fire that turns into a flurry of blazes, disappearing into the air. She watches it dissipate with a smile, and when she looks back down at her companions, Zuko is looking at her as if she were the only thing around them.

"Now that you have learned the secrets," interrupts the chief, his voice suddenly becoming serious, "and you know about our tribe's existence, we have no choice but to imprison you here forever." The three blanch in shock, but then the chief smiles. "Just kidding. But seriously, don't tell anyone!"

* * *

Upon leaving the civilization, they wander through some more of the buildings on the way back. Ka ends up stopping at one of the large murals, walking up the stairs to look at it more closely.

Aang and Zuko walk past her, not realizing she had stopped. She simply ignores them—she can find the way back herself.

The large mural depicts a man and a woman. The man is dressed in a red robe, with messy black hair that rests around his shoulders and a short beard. His eyes are a deep copper and his skin is pale. His form is tall and firm and surrounded by not only fire, but tall and jagged trees and spiritual creatures. The woman is bald and wears a long, heavy-looking Air Nation robe. Her eyes are a bright grey and her skin is dark. Two large, detailed spirits encircle the each of them accordingly. The man is shadowed by a white, kind-looking spirit, while the woman is shadowed by a dark, black, almost horrifying looking one.

There are no words on the mural, or anywhere on the building, but recognition rings in Ka's mind. She _knows_ these people, and these spirits.

Taking a few steps backwards, she groans when her head suddenly begins pounding and her ears begin ringing. A deep, unknown voice suddenly starts muttering unintelligibly in her head. Flashes of orange appear behind her eyes and the face of a beautiful airbending woman stares into her.

Then suddenly she is falling, right into someone's arms.

"Ka?" Zuko asks, looking down at her in confusion. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

She trembles, unsure of her surroundings for a moment, and for a split second all she can see is orange. Then she shoves herself out of his grip, and holds out her hands in front of her.

"Uh," she says, then swallows. "Yes. I am fine. Sorry."

"No, it's—" Zuko stops himself. "C'mon. Aang's waiting for us."

If she has trouble walking after being so shaken up, and if Zuko lets her lean on him on the way back to Appa, neither of them mention it.

* * *

"With this technique the dragons showed us, we'll be unstoppable!"

Ka sits behind as Aang and Zuko dance, a bit away from the rest of the group. Her head still pounds and she feels a sudden wave of exhaustion. She is sure she does not look that good, either.

Aang and Zuko finish the technique, and their team applauds.

"Yeah, that's a great dance you guys learned there," Sokka teases.

"It's not a dance," Zuko argues. "It's a firebending form!"

Teo turns back to look at Ka. _Dance,_ she mouths at him, nodding.

"We'll just tap-dance our way to victory over the Fire Lord," Sokka goes on, moving his fingers in a dancing manner over his palm.

Zuko stomps over towards him. "It's a sacred form that happens to be thousands of years old!"

"Oh, yeah?" Katara drawls. "What's your little form called?"

"... _The Dancing Dragon..._ "

At the resulting laughter, Zuko just cringes in embarrassment. Ka even snickers a little. He meets her eyes, and she puts a hand over her mouth quietly.

After a moment, she breaks it. She is not sure what is up with all this staring lately.

* * *

(That night, when she sleeps, she dreams of a bald airbending woman with glowing orange eyes. Beside her is the man from the mural, his eyes as white as can be.

 _Nam-kha,_ something tells her is the woman's name.

The feeling for the man's name comes a little bit later, after visions of black and white spirits in a great battle appear before her.

 _Wan._ )

* * *

 **the origin of the minder was something i intended to have much earlier in the story. but then i... forgot. lol. so here we are now.**

 **anyway, that's all for this chapter. next is the boiling rock parts 1 & 2, and maybe the southern raiders, because i'm not sure how long i'll make the boiling rock episodes.**


	21. season three: the past, and episode 14

**to avoid confusion: italics scenes describe the past - they are taken directly from legend of korra, season 2, episodes 7-8 themselves. if you've seen legend of korra, then you should know who it is immediately. if not, you'll see soon enough.**

* * *

 _"Are you strong? Are you fearless? Do you have what it takes to battle the spirits? Then join the hunt."_

 _He had joined the hunt for his stupid plan, and left for it all the same. After being gifted with fire by the lion turtle, he uses it only to take out the Chou brothers and steal their food and money. He was a fool to spare them, and now here is, in the Spirit Wilds, banished from his own city._

 _"No! Wait! Great lion turtle, I am sorry for stealing the fire from you, and I accept my punishment. But please, I need to be able to protect myself in the wilds."_

 _"Never again may you return to this city. But I will allow you to keep the power of the element."_

 _Some spirits are kind and some are ruthless. In all honesty, one of the spirits is right for calling every human ugly, destructive, and lacking in respect. But when he saves an animal from being captured and eaten and in return a spirit saves him as well, he starts to forget why his people, and even the lion turtles, seemed to fear and hate them so much._

 _"But I think I've had enough of humans for a while. I've decided to stay here and learn the ways of the spirits."_

 _With the spirits' help he learns to make firebending an extension of himself, to become one with the spirits while staying true to his human self all the same. He feels happier than he ever has in a very long time. As the years go by his fire becomes stronger, and his will nearly unbreakable. Humans come by again and again but he defends his friends, the spirits, and fights back. Every time, without fail._

 _But eventually, the time comes to leave._

 _He travels across the lands of the Spirit Wilds for days, weeks, months. Until something comes along. Or rather, someone._

 _"The all-powerful spirits are battling!"_

 _"They're gonna wipe out the entire valley!"_

 _Two gigantic spirits, one black and one white, are locked in battle and destroying everything as they go. He bends fire to make them stop but they only engage further, more and more and more. Tricked by the dark spirit's words he ends up releasing him and letting chaos into the world._

 _"My name is Raava. That spirit you freed is Vaatu. He is the force of darkness and chaos. I am the force of light and peace. Since the beginning of time, we have battled over the fate of this world. And for the past ten thousand years, I have kept darkness under control and the world in balance... until you came along."_

 _"So, by freeing Vaatu... I let chaos into the world?"_

 _"Precisely. The human and spirit realms are headed toward annihilation, and it's all your fault."_

* * *

"No one can make tea like Uncle," says Zuko as he fills up a few empty cups, "but hopefully I learned a thing or two. Would you like to hear Uncle's favorite tea joke?"

Ka wonders just where Iroh could be. He had been imprisoned following Ba Sing Se—that much was evident from the way Zuko had led her to his broken cell—but where did he escape to? Was he alright?

"Sure."

"I like jokes."

"Bring it!"

"Okay." Zuko smiles as he serves tea to Haru and The Duke. "Well, I can't remember how it starts, but the punch line is _Leaf me alone, I'm bushed!_ " There is no response. "Well, it's funnier when Uncle tells it."

"Right..." Katara says slowly. "Maybe that's because he remembers the whole thing."

Everyone laughs. Instead of becoming angry or embarrassed Zuko smiles. Ka finds herself studying his face, then looks away when he passes her a cup.

He walks over to Sokka with the last cup, but the latter only mumbles out a _Hey, can I talk to you for a second?_ then stands and walks away. Ka watches the two of them go to a small corner, away from the rest of the group, and furrows her eyebrows before shrugging and letting it be. Her head hurts too much to think about it, anyway.

(Flashbacks from a simpler time speed past her.)

* * *

"Not up to anything, huh?"

Sokka promptly slides off Appa, his bag spilling to the ground and its contents scattering out. He turns to glare at him.

"Fine, you caught me," he relents. "I'm gonna rescue my dad. You happy now?"

"I'm never happy," he replies. It's a lie.

"Look," Sokka starts, picking up the fallen items and shoving them back into his bag, "I _have_ to do this. The invasion plan was _my_ idea, it was _my_ decision to stay when things were going wrong. It's my mistake, and it's my job to fix it. I have to regain my honor. You can't stop me, Zuko."

Like he was going to stop him in the first place. "You need to regain your honor? Believe me, I get it. I'm going with you."

"No. I have to do this alone."

 _Stubborn._ Zuko is beginning to think there's a common trait between everyone in the Avatar-Minder crew. "How are you going to get there? On _Appa?_ Last time I checked, prisons don't have bison daycares." When Sokka stops climbing, Zuko nudges his head to the side. "C'mon, I found stuff we can turn into some kind of balloon. Let's go."

* * *

When the sunrises, Ka lifts her head from her place on the ground just in time to see Katara take a note from Momo's hands.

"What does it say?" Toph asks, hearing the flutter of paper.

"'Need meat'," Katara reads, "'Gone fishing. Back in a few days. Sokka and Zuko'." She raises her eyebrows. "One more thing. 'Aang, Ka, practice your firebending while I'm gone. Do twenty sets of fire fists and ten hot squats every time you hear a badgerfrog croak. Zuko'."

As if on cue, a badgerfrog croaks. Aang groans as he rises from his rest.

"Nobody else has homework," he complains, before beginning his hot squats.

Ka lets the sun sizzle over her skin for a bit longer, muttering curses under her breath before getting back up.

* * *

 _He sees a fruit tree with shaking branches, and only realizes that they do not shake themselves until he sees bald, robed humans harvesting with some sort of wind ability. One monk brings their left hand toward their chest, fingers stretched, and creates a cloud underneath themselves. They use that cloud to propel themselves up further, to reach the higher fruit. They all seem to have tattoos that scale across their entire bodies._

 _"More humans!" he shouts to his companion, Mula, and rides up to them. "I found you!" Instead of greeting him back the strange new humans are startled and run away in fright. "Wait! I'm friendly!"_

 _Following the strange humans leads him to another lion turtle city—one that floats in the sky. He watches one of the humans return their wind abilities to the lion turtle before finding a way up himself. The village is surrounded by spirits and people meditating and the sun bathes it in such a quiet, calm glow. The entire village seems to be built from one long tree and its branches._

 _"Wow," he breathes, and walks over to one of the meditating monks. "Hi, how are you? I'm Wan." The monk slowly opens his eyes and stares at him. "Um, sorry to interrupt, but it's been a while since I've seen other humans."_

 _The monk blinks. "Where did you come from?" he asks._

 _"Another lion turtle city far away," he replies. "For the last two years I've been living among the spirits and exploring the wilds."_

 _The monk's eyes go wide and he jumps to his feet, and—oh. Oh. It's a girl. "Amazing!" she exclaims, throwing her arms in the air. "That's so cool! Can you tell me all about your travels?" Her voice is low when bored but high when excited. Now that Wan looks at her more closely he sees the shape of her body underneath her robe, the femininity of her features and the sharpness of her jawline. She is very pretty, but very boyish. "My name is Nam-kha!" she goes on. "I've never left the village."_

 _She has a frown, but it's quickly replaced with a look of surprise when a spirit climbs up the back of her shoulder and suddenly becomes dark and horrifying. It flies off, but more dark spirits start to cut through walls and trees and destroy the village. Looking up, Vaatu floats in the sky, looking larger, and triumphant._

 _"Vaatu," Wan says, furrowing his eyebrows._

 _"So, we meet again, human."_

 _Nam-kha frowns. "Why is the great spirit of darkness here? Where's the spirit of light?"_

 _Wan flinches. "Uh. I'll explain later." He runs up closer and looks up at the great spirit. "Leave these people in peace. They've done nothing to harm you."_

 _He turns to firebend at a dark spirit who attacks a woman and her child, and sees as Nam-kha begins to follow. Even without bending, her form is graceful and she kicks every spirit that comes at her away. He does the same, and the people marvel at his display. Every spirit has turned dark and terrifying, and he feels regret when he pushes them away._

 _Raava suddenly appears and knocks Vaatu away. The collision results in a rumble and a gush of wind blowing over them. "Begone!" She spins around him and Nam-kha to shield them from more oncoming spirits._

 _Unaffected, Vaatu turns. "How are you feeling since our split, Raava?" There is an implication of a smile in his voice. "I've never been better. When Harmonic Convergence comes, I will destroy you forever."_

 _And with that, he disappears, as so the spirits. Wan sighs._

 _"I told you not interfere," Raava snaps at hm._

 _"I had to do something!" Wan protests. "These people were in danger."_

 _"Great spirit of light," says Nam-kha, stepping forward, "thank you for your help. But how did you split from Vaatu?"_

 _Raava turns to Wan, angered. "Ask him."_

 _"It—It wasn't my fault," Wan tries lamely. "Vaatu tricked me into freeing him. I'd take it all back if I could._

 _"It's too late for that," Raava says. "Now that Vaatu is free, he is turning other spirits dark. The more spirits he turns, the stronger he becomes."_

 _"He's getting bigger," Nam-kha realizes, "and you're getting smaller."_

 _"As darkness grows... light fades."_

 _Wan lowers his head in shame. "I'm sorry for endangering your village," he apologizes to Nam-kha, "but I promise to set things right."_

 _She pauses for a moment. "I'll forgive you, on one condition." Both Raava and Wan look to her, and she grins. "You take me with you."_

 _She takes them to the lion turtle, where she is granted the power of air by it. Then Wan is next, but the lion turtle is more than hesitant._

 _"You already carry the power of fire. No human has ever held two elements at the same time."_

 _"I'm not like other humans," Wan urges. "I can learn to do it."_

 _"Hmm, perhaps," the air lion turtle muses. "But to do so, Raava must hold the power for you until you master it."_

 _"Ancient one, why would I do that for a human?" Raava implores. "Especially one who's caused so much trouble?"_

 _"Raava, please," Wan begs, "I can't let the world fall into chaos because of my mistake. Neither of us can defeat Vaatu alone, but together we have a chance." He looks at Nam-kha and smiles. "All of us."_

 _Raava hesitates. "You may be right. Very well. I will help you to master the power of air."_

 _"Thank you," Wan says. "And in return I will help you restore balance to the world."_

* * *

"... Pretty clouds."

"Yeah... fluffy." When Sokka begins whistling, Zuko turns to him. "What?"

"What? Oh, I didn't say anything." There's another moment of silence. "You know, a friend of mine designed war balloons."

"No kidding."

"Yep, a balloon... but for war."

"If there's one thing my dad's good at, it's war." Zuko frowns as he blasts more fire into the tank. His father may be good at war but he is awfully terrible at small talk. Or any talk for that matter.

"Yeah, it seems to run in the family.

Pause. "Hey, hold on. Not everyone in my family is like that."

"I know, I know, you've changed."

 _Not me,_ he thinks, and looks down. "I meant my uncle," he murmurs. "He was more of a father to me. And I really let him down." Even in the beginning Uncle was always there for him, never left him even when he should have.

"I think your uncle would be proud of you," Sokka says sincerely. "Leaving your home to come help us? That's hard."

"It wasn't that hard." It really wasn't.

"Really?" Sokka asks in disbelief. "You didn't leave behind anyone you cared about?"

"Well, I did have a girlfriend. Mai."

Sokka raises his eyebrows in obvious surprise. "That gloomy girl who sighs a lot?"

"Yeah," Zuko says wistfully. "Everyone in the Fire Nation thinks I'm a traitor. I couldn't drag her into it. She even helped me leave."

Sokka is quiet for a moment. Zuko knows the impending question is coming. "What about Ka?"

He hesitates, then sighs. "I care about Mai," he says, because it's true, "but I love Ka." It feels odd to admit this out loud, and he blushes. "I... I have for a while. So it wasn't hard to come back."

"I see," Sokka mumbles, looking very intrigued. Zuko definitely doesn't like the look on his face. "Does Ka know?"

"Yeah," he replies, "but I already know she doesn't love me back. I messed that up in Ba Sing Se."

Sokka shrugs with one shoulder. "I dunno, man. She was very adamant about you joining, eventually, at least. And she went on that trip with you. She talks to you. I'm sure you still have a chance."

His face goes redder, and he only turns away. "... I doubt it."

There's a pause. "My first girlfriend turned into the moon."

"That's rough, buddy."

* * *

 _"What's this harmonic thing Vaatu was talking about?" Nam-kha asks curiously._

 _"Harmonic Convergence," replies Raava. "That is when Vaatu and I must battle for the fate of the world."_

 _"How long do we have until then?"_

 _"About a year in your time."_

 _"Then we better start training."_

 _They travel to a leaking volcano, craters of lava all around. No spirits to accidentally hurt in the process. Wan punches a ball of fire into existence. Nam-kha politely takes a few steps back. "Alright, I'm ready to try air. How's this gonna work?"_

 _"The only way for me to give you the other element is to pass through your body and combine our energies."_

 _"Great! So you've done this before."_

 _"No," Raava replies shortly. "This has never even been attempted. It is very dangerous."_

 _Nam-kha raises an eyebrow. Wan snorts, "That's what they said about living in the Spirit Wilds, and I survived that. I'm ready. Give me the air."_

 _Raava rises into the sky and back, speeding towards Wan and flying through his body. The light created is so bright that Nam-kha has to look away, shielding her eyes with her arms, only hearing the strained groan of the man in front of her. When it is done, he hunches over, then takes a deep breath, and punches out a burst of air into existence._

 _He grins, and looks over at Nam-kha. "It feels completely different."_

 _"Air is the element of freedom," she says, spinning around herself and creating a small tornado for her to whirl around in. "The most passive, and the most calm."_

 _Wan's grin grows impossibly wider, but then, with a sudden thought in mind, it falls, and he turns to Raava, curious palms open._

 _"If you and Vaatu have the same fight every ten thousand years, why hasn't one of you destroyed the other?"_

 _"He cannot destroy light any more than I can destroy darkness," she replies. "One cannot exist without the other. Even if I defeat Vaatu, darkness will grow inside me until he emerges again. The same will hold true if Vaatu defeats me."_

 _"That doesn't sound so bad," Wan says "Even if Vaatu wins, you'll come back."_

 _"At what cost..." Nam-kha murmurs, her air tornado disappearing under her feet._

 _"Nam-kha is right," Raava says, and the girl mentioned seems to marvel at the idea of even being mentioned by the great spirit, despite the fact that they are now traveling together. "I will return, but you will probably not survive to see it. Vaatu will destroy the world as you know it. Darkness will cover the earth for ten thousand years."_

 _Wan frowns. "If we're gonna help you battle Vaatu, then I should visit more lion turtles."_

 _Nam-kha widens her eyes. "More elements?" she questions. "But the strain could kill you!"_

 _Wan shrugs. "First time for everything, right?"_

 _There's a twinkle in his eye that she absolutely adores, and motivates her to no end._

 _So, she grins. "Let's kick some spirit butt."_

* * *

Zuko bends fire into the tank in time with Sokka's snoring, to avoid unnecessarily waking him up with the sound. But when he looks out into the distance and sees the boiling lake, he turns and gently shakes Sokka's shoulder, urging him awake.

"There it is!" he whisper-yells. "There's plenty of steam to keep us covered. As long as we're quiet, we should be able to navigate through it without being caught."

All goes well until they actually enter the volcano's steam, and their balloon quickly begins to lose altitude.

"We're going down!" Zuko shouts, frantically blasting fire into the tank. "The balloon's not working anymore!" He makes a last-ditch attempt to blast fire up into the balloon itself, but it does nothing.

"The air outside is just as hot as the air inside," Sokka exclaims, "so we can't fly!"

The balloon tips. Zuko falls to the side of the basket and grunts. "So what are we supposed to do?"

"I dunno! Crash-landing?"

The balloon skids across the boiling water that surrounds the prison, and the impact splashes some up towards Sokka's hand. He covers his mouth as he screams, leaving his voice muffled as he shakes his burnt hand. The balloon then hits the base of the rock, and they fly out from it onto the beach.

There's a moment of silence as the two boys stare at their wrecked war balloon.

"How are we gonna get off the island if the balloon won't work?" Zuko deadpans.

"We'll figure something out!" Sokka replies, as if it were that easy. "I suspected it might be a one-way ticket."

"You _knew_ this would happen and you wanted to come _anyway?_ "

Sokka wanders over to the destroyed balloon, tilting his head. "My dad might be here. I had to come and see!"

"Uncle always said I never thought things through..." he groans, putting a hand over his forehead. "But this... this is just crazy!"

Sokka starts to gather fallen parts from their war balloon that had been scattered all across the beach. "Hey, I never wanted you to come along in the first place!" he argues. "And for the record, I _always_ think things through. But my plans haven't exactly worked, so this time, I'm playing it by ear. So there." He throws the parts into the basket of the balloon and kicks it into the water.

"What are you doing!?"

"It doesn't work anyway," Sokka says, watching as it sinks, "and we don't want anyone to find it."

Zuko grimaces. He wish Ka were here. "I hope you know what you're doing. There's no turning back now."

* * *

 _Nam-kha watches in awe as one person forms such a bond with spirits, and such a bond with themselves, that they can hold multiple elements inside their body at once (admittedly, with some strain on their body)._

 _Fire, air, water, earth. Different elements combined in one person. It's astounding._

 _(She almost feels jealous. But it's okay. Air is more than enough for her.)_

 _"Why is there so much conflict between humans and spirits in the first place?"_

 _"This physical world is where humans come from. Spirits come from another realm. At the north and south poles, the two realms intersect. Over time, more and more spirits have drifted into this world. Humans have been forced apart, settling on the lion turtles who protect them and losing touch with each other."_

 _"Most people think they live in the only human city in the world."_

 _"Most humans think only of themselves, no matter how many others are around."_

 _As the year goes on they practice their bending more and more. Nam-kha sees a sort of strong connection between Wan and Raava, and as days go by, her connection with the two of them forms as well._

 _"When you pass through me, I feel an incredible rush of power. I feel like I'm changing. The more we practice, the stronger I become."_

 _All goes well. Then, one day, they find a group of humans burning down the forest for wood. It pains Nam-kha, both physically and emotionally, as she watches the flames ripple across the trees and branches. She holds a hand to her chest and groans._

 _Raava flies into the humans' camp. As soon as one spots her, they cry, "A spirit!" and move to attack. Wan and Nam-kha jump in front of her, dissipating the flames with a wave of their arms._

 _"Easy there, fellas," Wan says. "We're friendly."_

 _"I can't believe it," comes a familiar voice, walking up. "Wan?" It's Jaya, Wan's friend from the fire lion turtle city._

 _Wan beams, rushing up to him and embracing him. "What are you doing out here?"_

 _"You inspired us," Jaya laughs. "Once we heard that you survived out in the wilds, we decided to try it too." He glances behind Wan's head towards his companion. "Who's she?"_

 _Nam-kha waves. "Hi. I'm Nam-kha."_

 _Jaya waves back, smiling._

 _"Where's Yao?" Wan asks. "Did he come with you?"_

 _Jaya's smile falls. "Yes," he replies sorrowfully, "but sadly... he didn't make it. We... we lost a lot of good men along the way. So why were you protecting this spirit?"_

 _"This is Raava," Nam-kha scoffs, "the spirit of light. She is not like the other dark spirits."_

 _Jaya frowns at her. "Dark spirits?" he echoes. "What's the difference? We throw fire at any spirit we see around here. Just like they attack any man."_

 _Nam-kha's eyes widen, putting her hands behind Raava. "You monsters!"_

 _"You have no idea what you're doing," Raava says angrily. "You're only making things worse!"_

 _One of the settlers points in a different direction. "The spirits are coming back!"_

 _"Let's wipe 'em out this time! We'll burn down this whole forest if we have to!"_

 _"No!" Nam-kha shouts, sending a blast of air towards the settlers and knocking them down._

 _"What happened to you?" Wan asks in disbelief. "When did you become so violent?"_

 _Jaya frowns at him. "You showed me we could change the world if we just stopped being so afraid. Now we're doing it."_

 _They run off. Wan turns to Nam-kha and Raava and says, "This isn't what I had in mind."_

 _A group of spirits meet up with the settlers._

 _"Get out of the forest, humans."_

 _Wan and Nam-kha rush between them, Wan facing the spirits and Nam-kha facing the humans. "Wait!" he shouts. "We can resolve this peacefully."_

 _"Stinky? You came back! You and Raava are just in time to help us clear these tree-killing fire-lovers out of here, just like the old days." His old caretaker, the aye-aye spirit, grins at him._

 _"You are the ones who's getting cleared out!" Jaya argues._

 _"There is no need for violence," Nam-kha urges._

 _"I know there must be a way to work out a compromise," continues Wan._

 _"You have a good heart, Stinky. You too, airbender. But these fire tossers aren't like you!"_

 _"Spirits like him killed our friends!" shouts Jaya. "I can't let them get away with that."_

 _Clouds roll in overhead and thunder shakes the ground. A lightning bolt splits the sky and Vaatu's form is suddenly illuminated in the clouds. He laughs, and the spirits behind Wan begin to turn dark._

 _The aye-aye spirit, in a deep voice, says, "We are protectors of the forest. We won't let you burn it down."_

 _"It's Vaatu," Raava says. "He's growing stronger, using their anger to turn them to his side."_

 _"Wipe them out!"_

 _The two groups charge at each other, but the efforts of the three manage to keep them apart for a short period of time. Nam-kha encircles the settlers in a spout of air before one can manage a fireball at one of the spirits._

 _"Raava, we need to combine our energies!" Wan says, and reaches out to pull Nam-kha to him when she is about to be trampled by a flame. "Maybe then we'll have enough power to stop this!"_

 _Raava flies into Wan and they merge, and Nam-kha shrieks at the rush of energy that passes by her. Her hand falls from Wan's grip and she collapses to the ground, shaking. Wan shoots himself into the air on an air spout, the other elements circling around him. His eyes are white and glowing and his entire body radiates with pure energy._

 _"Enough!" he shouts. "You need to stop fighting now, before you destroy each other!"_

 _The spirits begin to revert back to normal. They groan and watch as the man before them spins each element around his body with seemingly the greatest of ease._

 _"He's controlling all four elements..."_

 _But then that ease fails. "Wan," Raava says, her voice echoing through Wan's mind, "I have to leave your body, or I'll destroy you."_

 _"No! It's working! If you leave, the fighting will start again!"_

 _He groans under the pressure until he falls out of the sky, fainting. Raava leaves his body and catches him before he falls, carrying him and the fallen Nam-kha away._

 _When they awaken, the battle is done, and the battlefield is empty and burned. Wan can feel death all around him._

 _"We have to go back," Wan says._

 _Vaatu suddenly flies in front of him. "Don't bother. Your human friends have already been annihilated."_

 _"No!"_

 _"Enjoy your final days," a gigantic Vaatu says, then looks over at his friend. "Your friend here seems to not have many of hers, left. See you at the end o the world!"_

 _When he flies away Wan rises to his feet and rushes over to Nam-kha. Her entire body is still and cold but her eyes are wide open and terrified._

 _He shouts her name, but no response. So he decides to go looking for Raava. Finding her severely shrunken behind a rock, he picks up the weak spirit and holds her in his arms._

 _"I'm sorry, Wan," she says softly._

 _Wan slides her into a teapot and moves to settle next to Nam-kha. "Do you know what's wrong with her?"_

 _"When we combined energies, her energy was sucked into yours through physical contact. She does not have much of her own left. The strain of all four elements was too much on her body, without practice."_

 _Wan frowns. "So what do we do?"_

 _"I don't know."_

 _He hops onto Mula and settles Nam-kha in front of him, so he can hold onto her and the reins at the same time. They set a course for the southern spirit portal._

 _"We're almost there," Raava eventually says, and Wan glances into the teapot. "I was wrong about you, Wan. I had no idea that humans were capable of such nobility and courage. I'm sorry that we do not have much more time together."_

 _"Let's not give up before the battle's even begun. Who knows what will happen? After all, this is my first Harmonic Convergence."_

* * *

They find a rather convenient supply room filled with reserve guard uniforms, and sneak into one of the halls with helmets placed firmly over their heads, hiding their appearances. Zuko has the most to worry about. He's a fugitive of his country, after all.

"I hope these disguises work," he mutters, his shoulders tense.

"We just need to lay low and find my dad as soon as possible."

As soon as Sokka's words leave his mouth a series of guards run by. One of them turns, looks at the two of them, then says, "Guards! There's a scuffle in the yard. C'mon!"

Well. Their disguises work, but so much for laying low. The two boys follow the group of guards out into the yard, past a gathering of prisoners, who surround a prisoner and another guard.

"I didn't do anything!" argues the prisoner in the center. "I'm going back to my cell."

He turns on his heel and starts to walk away, but the guard confronting him forms a whip of fire and smacks it at his feet.

"Stop right there, Chit Sang."

Zuko takes a step forward, angry, reminded of something bad, but Sokka grabs him arm and pulls him back. _We can't blow our cover,_ he murmurs, and he's right, but Zuko still feels awful, feels guilty. He knows how his country treats their prisoners, and even their own people.

(Their own queens.)

"I've had it with your unruly behavior!" shouts the bully guard.

"What did I do?"

"He wants to know what he did," laughs the guard, then turns to Zuko and Sokka. "Isn't that cute?" When they fail to reply he gives them a look.

"Uh," Zuko says quickly, "very cute, sir."

"Super cute."

Sated, the bully guard nods and walks over to Chit Sang. "You didn't bow down when I walked by, Chit Sang!"

Zuko clenches his teeth. He really hates his nation sometimes.

"What?" Chit Sang questions. "That's not a prison rule!"

"Do it!"

"Make me."

The bully guard starts to walk away but he suddenly turns and whips fire at the prisoner. Chit Sang blocks it and redirects it at him, but the guard only breaks the blast with a kick. It was all intentional.

"Tsk, tsk," says the guard. "Firebending is prohibited. You're going in the cooler." He points at the nearest guard, who happens to be Sokka. "You! Help me take him in."

Sokka leans over into Zuko, "Meet me back here in an hour." Then he walks up to the guard and the prisoner and takes one of his arms, leading him away.

Zuko frowns as the prisoners scatter. This is an awful place to be.

* * *

 _They pass through the portal into the Spirit World. Their scene, their battlefield, is barren with the exception of a single hollow tree, several streams, and two portals across from one another._

 _From the northern portal, Vaatu emerges. Wan jumps from Mula and picks up Nam-kha, gently resting her against the tree, away from harm._

 _"Are you ready for our final battle, Raava?" calls Vaatu, giant and terrifying. "Thanks to our friend separating us, I think this time I may be rid of you once and for all."_

 _Wan frowns. "Before you get to her, you'll have to go through me!"_

 _Vaatu chuckles. "No human can stand against me."_

 _"Haven't you heard the legends?" Wan grins. "I'm not a regular human anymore."_

 _He shoots a blast of fire. Vaatu only flies away to avoid the blasts. He spins around and knocks Wan away with one of his tentacles. Wan slams into the ground, groaning, pain rushing through his body._

 _"I lived ten thousand lifetimes before the first of your kind crawled out of the mud!"_

 _Purple energy beams from his face. Wan screams. The pain is so awful._

 _"It was I who broke through the divide that separated the plane of spirits from the material world!" Vaatu continues firing over and over. "To hate me is to give me breath. To fight me is to give me strength. Now prepare to face oblivion!"_

 _Wan propels himself in the air with fire to avoid another blast. He turns to Raava desperately and says, "The only way to win is together!" She flies from his teapot and merges with him, creating a bright white energy that blinds everything in sight._

 _Vaatu attacks with whipping tentacles. Wan flies onto a cloud and into the air, exchanging blows. He manages to make a decent stand, even sending Vaatu back a few inches with one blast. But Vaatu is still winning, and the two elements on Wan's body is becoming rougher and more uncontrollable._

 _"I have to leave you," Raava urges. "If I stay any longer, you will die."_

 _"It doesn't matter. If you leave me now, Vaatu will destroy everything. We have to finish this together!"_

 _They fight, and they fight, and they fight. Wan's body starts to become literal static as he loses ground. A blast of fire and a purple beam meet in the middle, and the resulting blast knocks Wan to the ground, landing on his back, moaning in pain._

 _"You put up a good fight," says Vaatu, "but what about your friend?" No. "She seems a little lonely over there."_

 _Nam-kha is half awake, batting at Vaatu's tentacles with weak limbs as he tries to reach for her. She manages one powerful blast of air to knock him back, but he only rushes into her body. She shouts in agony, her back snapping upwards, and she pauses for a moment before slowly turning to Wan, eyes glowing orange._

 _Wan's eyes widen in shock. Nam-kha takes one step, but immediately falters, one of her legs giving out underneath her. Vaatu's energy inside her is what is keeping her alive, but she fights, and she fights hard. Her eyes flicker as she screams, climbing back to her feet and squirming, struggling, punching the air as if tentacles were pulling her apart from all ends. Despite the struggle, her feet move on their own, by Vaatu's will, and he stomps closer and closer until he (she) pins Wan's head by the southern portal with her hand._

 _One of her eyes is orange, the other the normal brown. She is crying, and she is gritting her teeth against it._

 _"Kill me," she whispers._

 _"I can't," Wan says back._

 _"It'll stop him." Her voice starts to mix with Vaatu's. She is losing. She is losing. She grunts and then both of her eyes are glowing orange. Vaatu's voice escapes her mouth, "The Harmonic Convergence is about to begin. The era of Raava is over!"_

 _The two beams from the spirit portals bend over to connect over their heads. Nam-kha's chest begins to glow deep violet, and Wan's white. Her right eye glitches until it turns brown, and she smiles shakily at him before extending her arm, borrowing Vaatu's power to turn it into a black tentacle._

 _But before she can do anything rash, Wan grabs onto her hand, laces their fingers together, and shoves his right hand into the portal. The energy from the Harmonic Convergence flows into him and into Nam-kha, and they are basked in a blue and orange light. There is a sudden, sort of explosion between them, and they are forced together, back to back. Wan cries out, his eyes glowing white, and white light shoots from his mouth and eyes. Nam-kha, orange._

 _They take each other's hand once more, and merge into one,_

 _Inside, they fight. An internal struggle against light and darkness. But in the end Vaatu is secured by light, by the force inside both Wan and Nam-kha, and the portals are closed, to prevent anyone from coming to disturb the peace._

 _"We are bonded forever."_

 _The spirit of darkness inside Nam-kha, locked away, hidden. Shrouded by her light and her peace. The spirit of light inside Wan, flourishing, cherished. Guided by his selflessness and purging his old ways._

 _"We will be the bridge between our two worlds."_

 _The world begins to enter a new age. Lion turtles leave their cities, no longer protecting mankind and no longer gifting the power of the elements. Instead, they learn themselves._

 _"Different groups of people must learn to live together. This is our mission: to use Raava's light spirit and Vaatu's dark spirit to guide the world towards peace and balance."_

 _But in the end, the very end, when an aged Nam-kha lies motionlessly on the ground, a spear in her abdomen, and a weary Wan clumps against an earth coin, Raava and Vaatu promise to be there for all their lifetimes. Together._

 _Because they are bonded. They will always be together._

 _So when their last breath escapes them, it fills the cry of two newborn babies._

* * *

Zuko is not very good at blending in and hiding. It didn't work in Ba Sing Se, and it does not work here.

The other guards don't seem to suspect him but they do think he is strange. He asks about war prisoners, and finds no useful information.

So he finds Sokka, reports back to him, he does the next worse thing: try to make him feel better.

"Ah, what would Uncle say? Sometimes... clouds have two sides, a dark and light, and a silver lining in between. It's like a silver sandwich! So... when life seems hard... take a bite out of the silver sandwich!"

After a moment, Sokka's eyes go wide and his expression bright, running up to grab the railing and excitedly looking down into the yard. "Maybe we haven't failed after all!"

"That's the spirit!" Zuko crosses his arms confidently. "I can't believe that worked. I didn't even know what I was saying."

"No, what you said made me sense at all. But look!" He points into the yard, down towards a rather familiar and sad-looking girl. "It's Suki!"

The prisoners are led back to their cells, and Sokka very literally flashes heart eyes, lowers the visor on his helmet, and dashes away in a flash.

Zuko just sighs, and goes after him.

Once he finds him, he stands outside of the girl's cell while Sokka enters to go get his girl. He feels somewhat jealous, and the realization embarrasses him. He hears commotion inside the cell followed by angry yelling, but then heartfelt joy. After a few moments, Zuko sees a guard ascending the nearby stairs. He taps on the door to get their attention, and the female guard walks up to him with her arms crosses.

"Excuse me," she says. "I need to get into that cell."

"No, you can't go in there!" _Alright, Zuko, think of a good excuse. Something believable._ "Uh... the lights are out. The prisoner could sneak up on you." _Nice._

"Step aside, fool." Not nice. The guard raises her arm to push him out of the way but he grabs hold of her and slams her face-first against the door. "Hey, hey, what are you doing!?"

She fights back, slamming him against the door and beating him in a battle of strength. Sokka slides out of the door and tries to sneak away but the female guard calls after him and demands _Get him off me and arrest him!_

So he is taken away, _Don't worry, I'll figure it out,_ and shoved into prison garb and locked in an isolated room.

He wishes, not for the first time, that Ka were here.

* * *

(Or course the warden is Mai's uncle.)

* * *

He meets Suki later while mopping floors. Turns out she was the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, and he sort of burned down her village. _Whoops._ He apologizes as such.

A few minutes later, they hide behind a staircase and discuss a plan.

"So, listen, I think I have an escape plan," says Sokka. "I checked out the coolers again, and the point of them is to keep firebenders contained, right?"

"Yeah..."

"So, they're completely insulated and sealed to keep the cold in. Well, to keep the cold in, it also has to keep the heat out, right?"

"Just get to the point, Sokka."

"It's a perfect boat for getting through the boiling water!"

Zuko and Suki exchange a look. "The cooler as a _boat?_ Are you sure?"

"I'm telling you, it'll work," Sokka assures, nodding. "I walked around the perimeter. There's a blind spot between two guard towers. It's the perfect launching point. I already tested it out. We'll roll the cooler into the water and just float with the current. It'll take us straight across. As long as we don't make a sound, no one will notice. And bing-bang-boom, we're home free."

"But how are you going to get the cooler out?" Suki asks.

"Yeah," says Chit Sang suddenly, from the staircase, "how are you going to get the cooler out?"

Sokka covers up. "What? We didn't—we didn't say that."

"Yeah, you heard wrong."

Chit Sang grins. "I heard you hatching an escape plan, and I want in."

* * *

They start a fight in the prison area. Zuko blasts fire at Chit Sang for show and is brought to the cooler. The wrench in his pocket comes in handy, and he removes all the bolts and screws, using his breath of fire to keep himself warm.

But then they hear about new arrivals. War prisoners. They give up their only chance of escaping on the off chance it might be Sokka's father. Chit Sang, his girl, and his friend take the cooler instead, but get caught when the burning water splashes his hand and he screams.

Wincing at the rushing guards and fleeing prisoners, they turn their attention to the approaching gondola.

"This is it," Sokka sighs. "If my dad's not there, we've risked everything for nothing."

Suki turns to hold his hand. They watch as one by one different men step off the gondola, none of them even looking remotely Water Tribe.

The last prisoner exits, and his father is not there.

"That's it?" Sokka breathes. "That can't be it."

"I'm sorry, Sokka."

"Oh, no..."

"Hey, you! Get off the gondola!"

So they look up, hopeful, and watch as a Water Tribe man steps out, angered, his mouth pitched in a frown.

Then Sokka's eyes fill with tears, and he breathes, "Dad..."

* * *

In her dreams she sees a large black spirit towering over her small body.

" _The new Minder is another spirit..._ " he breathes, then grins. " _Welcome back to our origins, little one._ "

An airbending woman with brown eyes takes her place.

She has a bad feeling about this.

* * *

 **whoops. i meant to do both boiling rock parts this chapter but i got very caught up in the origin of the avatar and the minder.**

 **anyway.**

 **next chapter: boiling rock part 2 and the southern raiders. we're getting very close to the end, here. stick around.**


	22. season three: episodes 15-17

**sorry for the wait.**

* * *

As soon as the sight of Sokka's father is revealed, he shoves past guards and prisoners alike just to get into line behind several guards, who stand, lined up before the new prisoners.

The warden approaches them, hands behind his back, looking down at them as if they were insects below his feet.

"Welcome to the Boiling Rock," he says, walking past the line of prisoners. "I'm sure you've all heard the horrible rumors about our little island. Well, I just want to tell you that they don't have to be true, as long as you do everything I say." He stops in front of Sokka's father, who looks downward, and leans in. "Look me in the eye when I'm talking to you."

"No," firmly replies Sokka's father, and now Zuko can see where both Sokka and Katara get some of their bravery from.

"Oh?" hums the warden. "You'd rather look at my shoes? Then take a look!" He raises his left leg and drags Hakoda by his handcuffs down to the floor—he kneels over, angered. Sokka gives a quiet gasp of horror as the warden stands over him, his foot firmly pressed over his handcuffs. "I know exactly who you are, Hakoda of the Water Tribe. So strong-willed... but don't worry, we'll get rid of that in time. Now, look me in the eye!"

There's a beat of silence. Then, Hakoda reluctantly lifts his head, and glares hatefully.

"See, isn't that better?" The warden's voice drips with mockery. Zuko hates it. "You will all do as I say or pay the price. You will all—"

He begins to walk forward only for Hakoda to lift his left handcuff slightly, tripping the warden and smirking when he falls flat on the ground. Two guards rush over to help him up as Sokka and the others stifle their own laughs.

"I'm fine!" snaps the warden, rising to his feet, face beet red. "Get these prisoners out of my sight!"

He storms away. The two guards glance at each other and then the prisoners, and they are filed away one by one down a stairwell to the prison hold.

Sokka watches them leave, then turns towards the others, grinning.

Zuko thinks he hasn't seen a smile like that on him since—

Well. Ever.

* * *

 _We have a new plan,_ Sokka says, pretending to rough him up, discussing what he and his father had talked about in the short amount of time they had been able to meet, _but it's gonna need a big distraction. Be in the yard in one hour._

But then he's taken to a different cell room, dragged down the hall by two guards and thrown into a chair.

"I didn't do anything wrong!" he shouts to the darkness that meets him, but no reply.

Only for a moment.

"And I'm sure that's true," comes a familiar voice, and he turns around to see Mai giving him a somewhat melancholic smile, "but it seems you've gotten yourself into trouble here."

" _Mai?_ " he asks, breathlessly, in disbelief, and she steps forward, holding a slip of paper in her hands. "How did you know I was here?"

"The warden's my uncle," she says, almost regrettably. "Once he found out that the Fire Nation prince was at his prison, he told me immediately. I knew something was up." She glances him up and down. "So much for leaving, huh?"

He blushes, turns away, reddening with shame and embarrassment.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Mai asks, stepping closer.

Zuko pauses. What had he been looking for? Redemption? Forgiveness? A sense of belonging? His answer, he supposes, would be _all of the above,_ but the face of a white-haired and violet-eyed spirit comes into mind, and he knows that, above anything else, _she_ had been the one thing he's been looking for all along.

(Because she is forgiveness, belonging, and redemption, all rolled into one. And has been ever since they met.)

So, he replies, "Yes. I did."

Mai is quiet for another moment. "So they really are alive."

"Yeah," Zuko admits. "I helped them in the invasion."

"I figured as such," Mai sighs, and unravels the paper in her hands. "Well, the note was a good idea. A tragic breakup poem. You had the whole palace believing it."

Zuko swallows. Looks her up and down. Says, "I'm sorry."

She raises an eyebrow at him. "For what? You're being who you truly are, Zuko. For me... there's nothing more I'd like to see."

He wants to say _sorry,_ for breaking her heart, for leading her on, for being so different. But he doesn't have the chance to say any of that, because suddenly, there's the sound of banging and yelling from the distance, and eerily familiar footsteps.

Then, Mai is looking at him with serious eyes, and asks, "Is it worth it?"

"What?"

"Is _she_ worth it?"

He pauses, and looks her in the eyes. "Yes."

Mai swallows, her expression a bit pained, but she nods nonetheless. She rushes up to the door, unlocks it with a quick swipe of a hidden key from her sleeve, and swings the door open. The guard that stands outside turns the corner to peek in, confused, but Mai bashes her elbow into his face and swipes his feet out from underneath him.

When he's knocked unconscious, she turns to Zuko, and smiles.

"Go. I've got your back."

He stands from the chair, walks to the doorway, and gives her one final peck before smiling at her and running off.

(There will always be a love in his heart for her, he decides. But one that can never be.

Maybe once, it could have, if things were different. If certain things didn't happen. If they were different.

But it just wasn't meant to be. And that's okay.

There are different people out there for them.)

* * *

By the time he makes it to the yard, Zuko truly has no clue just what in Agni's name is going on.

The entire yard is engaged in a furious riot. Sokka, Suki, and Hakoda are all standing there, with... Chit Sang, for some reason. He sighs when he reaches them.

"Zuko!" Sokka exclaims, grinning. "Good, we're all here. Now all we need to do is grab the warden, and get to the gondolas!"

 _The warden? Gondolas?_ If Zuko is honest, he hadn't really been paying attention when Sokka was trying (and failing) to explain his plan. He has no idea what's going on. He looks at Suki with wide, desperate, and confused eyes but she just shrugs back at him.

"And how do we do that?" he asks.

"I'm not sure."

Seriously. "I thought you thought this through!"

"I thought you told me it's okay to _not_ think everything through!"

"Maybe not everything, but _this_ is kind of important!"

"Hey, uh, fellas," speaks up Chit Sang, and he points towards the tower. "I think your girlfriend's taking care of it."

They turn, and watch in awe as Suki hops and leaps over the heads of rioters before flipping onto the tower. She defeats the first guard with a few quick jabs, then sweeps the next two firebending guards that come at her. The others start to run after her, significantly slower. When she makes it to the top, she slides underneath the final guard and kicks him up into the air, and down onto the ground. The warden stares at her with wide eyes, then furrows his eyebrows when she grabs him and threatens him with he first before his face.

"You wouldn't dare."

Suki ties his hands together and uses his headband as a gag. "Sorry, warden," she hums. "You're my prisoner now." She slams him against the wall and then turns to the others. "We've got the warden! Now let's get out of here!"

They all pant rather unceremoniously.

"That's some girl," Hakoda says.

Sokka grins. "Tell me about it."

* * *

They defeat two guards on the way to the gondola, and when they show that they have the warden, the rest of the guards let them on without any fuss. As soon as they rush on and start it, Zuko kicks the handle a few times to break it.

For a few moments, he thinks they're okay.

Then, in the distance, at the bottom of the gondola station, stands his sister and Ty Lee. He curses under his breath. His team turns to look over at where he gazes, and mimic his swear.

Azula snatches a pair of handcuffs from a nearby guard's belt and runs forward. Ty Lee jumps up onto the cable, running along it toward the gondola. Azula elevates herself to the line with a fire blast, and uses the cuffs to attach herself to the cable and propels herself forward.

Zuko grimaces.

"This is a rematch I've been waiting for," Suki says.

"Me too."

Sokka, Suki, and Zuko climb to the top of the gondola to meet them. Ty Lee flips herself into the air and lands in front of Suki, the latter of which quite literally growls and assumes a battle position. Azula pulls herself onto the roof, beside Ty Lee, and tilts her head at them.

There's a beat of silence. A pause. Then Azula slices a kick of fire towards Zuko, baring her teeth, but Zuko blocks it, swiping his arms to the side. Ty Lee and Suki trade blows, the former trying and failing to get her chi blocking to work on her, or to even touch her. Ty Lee is forced to the edge but jumps into the gondola and escapes out from the other side. Azula forces herself forward more and more again, her blue fire only getting hotter and more intense. Sokka draws her back to the edge with his sword, slicing across her sleeve with it and making a very thin cut on her arm. She looks at it once, at Sokka, and then looks over at Zuko just as soon as he goes in for a finish. She gives a wide kick, nearly striking Suki and Ty Lee, who barely manage to dodge it.

Then, suddenly, from the inside of the gondola, "Cut the line!" The warden.

Zuko curses again. The gondola abruptly stops, and the sudden halt causes Sokka to slide to the edge of the gondola. Zuko rushes over to pull him up, nearly losing his own balance in the moment.

Ty Lee jumps to the top of the wire. "They're about to cut the line!"

Azula turns to see another gondola approaching on the other wire. "Then it's time to leave." She smirks, and blasts herself up into the air with fire. "Goodbye, Zuko."

She and Ty Lee land on the other gondola, and Zuko sees her concerned expression in contrast to Azula's sadistic grin. He sees her legs twitch, like she wants to jump back over. But then, the other gondola moves too far away, and she can't go back.

The others jump back inside the gondola.

"They're cutting the line!" Zuko exclaims. "The gondola's about to go!"

"I hope this thing floats," Hakoda says with a grimace.

Just before the guards can finish cutting the wire, they are suddenly yanked away from it, and pinned to the wall. Zuko halts in confusion when the wire does not go, and walks over to look out the window, peeking out towards the base of the structure.

It's Mai. The fallen bodies of the guards lay around her, and she kicks her foot on the line to continue in motion.

"Who's that?" Sokka asks.

More guards rush up towards Mai, and she simply turns her head towards them. Zuko finds himself grinning like an idiot.

"It's Mai."

" _Mai?_ " Sokka questions, eyebrows furrowed.

Zuko waves him off. "She helped me get to you guys."

Sokka looks at him, at her, the shrugs. "Alright."

The gondola makes it to the top of the hill, and they all exit from it, save the warden. They leave him tied up and gagged on the inside.

"Sorry, warden," Hakoda says, smiling. "Your record is officially _broken._ "

They escape over the rim of the volcano, but then he stops. Thinks for a moment. How did his sister get here? Not like they did, definitely not...

He turns. There's a large airship down by the sea.

"There! That's our way out of here!"

(Of course she had to ride in as dramatically as possible.)

* * *

They return to the Western Air Temple when night falls, and exit the airship to see the rest of their group, confused and shocked expressions worn on their faces.

"What are you doing in this thing?" Katara asks. "What happened to the war balloon?"

Zuko scratches the back of his head. "It kind of got destroyed."

"Sounds like a crazy fishing trip," Aang and Ka deadpan in unison. Zuko thinks he'll never get used to that.

"Did you at least get some good meat?" Toph asks eagerly.

"I did," Sokka says, smiling. "The best meat of all. The meat of friendship, and fatherhood."

Suki, Hakoda, and Chit Sang all walk out of the airship. Chit Sang smiles and waves, "I'm new. What's up, everybody?"

Katara's eyes well with tears. " _Dad?_ "

"Hi, Katara." He smiles warmly at her, with all the love a father should have, and they embrace, tightly, tearfully.

"How are you here? What is going on? Where did you go?"

Sokka laughs sheepishly. "We kind of went to a Fire Nation prison."

Hakoda pulls Sokka into their embrace. Zuko watches as Aang and Ka walk up to Suki and hug her, as well. He suddenly has a distinct memory, a flashback, of seeing Ka, so long ago, on Suki's island wearing their clothes and their fans but in a much different color and style.

Huh.

" _Seriously?_ " Toph asks in disbelief. "You guys didn't find _any_ meat?"

* * *

Azula finds them.

It wasn't hard, really, to track down the giant airship that Zuko took, but still.

He saves Katara's life, but she seems a little angry at him for doing so. They all escape on Appa, in the end, after another battle between Azula and Zuko. It seems like he can never defeat her, that she's always one step ahead.

Always pursuing, and winning.

(It annoys him.)

So, here they are. Camping. _It really seems like old times again, doesn't it?_ Aang asks, which Zuko can't exactly relate to, but Ka explains that this is how they lived before they got to Ba Sing Se. Before they ever became closer. When he still had a ship.

He tries his hand at a joke, "If you really want it to feel like old times, I could, uh... chase you around a while and try to capture you." Everyone laughs, save for Ka and Katara, but the former simply rolls her eyes in an amused way while the latter frowns and gives a sarcastic groan.

Sokka raises his cup. "To Zuko! Who knew after all those times he tried to snuff us out, today he'd be our hero?"

"Hear, hear!" Aang nudges him with his elbow. Toph lightly punches his arm. Of all things, Ka _smiles_ at him, small and hidden behind the rim of her cup. But it's something.

"I'm touched. I don't deserve this."

"Yeah, no kidding." Katara rises to her feet and stomps away from everyone else.

Zuko looks from her to Ka, and nods when she nudges her head towards the direction that she left in.

He has to fix this, by any means.

* * *

Ever since her deep vision into the past, he has visited her every night now.

Telling her of dark spirits, of old stories where he ruled over the earth, of what they could accomplish together.

She listens, but she does not respond. It is unimportant. She is not evil, she is not bad, she is not the culmination of all of humanity's darkness like he says.

(... Right?)

* * *

(It would make sense. Aang is light, while she is darkness.

In Ba Sing Se, she lost control. Aang is white, while she is a dark orange. He is hope, while she is terrifying.

No wonder the Minder is so insubordinate, so ignored, so feared to be acknowledged.

No one ever wants to believe that such an evil could be so powerful.)

* * *

She finds out that Aang has been seeing Raava, in comparison. He knows of their true origin now, and of hers.

And despite it all, he does not see her in any other way because of it.

She feels like crying. She really does not deserve to be the Minder of such a hopeful person.

* * *

Ka barely notices when Zuko leaves with Katara—to avenge her mother, apparently. She does not exactly encourage the action, but her sleepless nights have left her too tired to even protest.

Aang, on the other hand, does everything he can to stop her.

"You're feeling unbelievable pain and rage. How do you think I felt about the sandbenders when they stole Appa? How do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out what happened to my people?"

"She needs this, Aang," Zuko argues. "This is about getting closure and justice."

"It's about getting revenge," Ka mutters.

"Fine, maybe it is!" Katara snaps angrily, whirling around. "Maybe that's what I need! Maybe that's what he deserves!"

"Katara... you sound like Jet."

"It's not the same! Jet attacked the innocent. This man, he's a monster."

"Katara," Sokka says, involving himself, "she was my mother too, but I think Aang might be right."

Katara frowns. "Then you didn't love her the way I did!"

"Katara!"

Ka's eyes widen. Her rage has gotten the better of her, has caused her to lose her filter.

"The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed rat viper. While you watch your enemy go down, you're being poisoned yourself," Aang says.

"That's cute," says Zuko, "but this isn't Air Temple-preschool. It's the real world."

Ka furrows her eyebrows. "The spirits will handle the punishment of your mother's killer. No deed goes unpunished. You are simply testing fate."

"Well, maybe the spirits are just a little too slow for my liking," Katara says, rolling her eyes. "Now that I know he's out there... now that I know we can find him, I feel like I have no choice."

"Katara," Aang tries again, "you do have a choice: forgiveness."

"That's the same as doing nothing!" Zuko protests.

"No, it's not." Aang shakes his head.

Ka crosses her arms, and looks Zuko directly in the eye as she says, "It is easy to do nothing, but it is hard to forgive."

Zuko falters under her gaze, but Katara is unfazed.

"It's not just hard, it's impossible." And with that, she walks away.

* * *

That night, Katara and Zuko take Appa and leave.

Aang nor Ka can be bothered to stop them.

* * *

That night, when Ka opens her eyes, she is standing in the center of the Spirit World's swamp from her childhood.

In front of her stands Vaatu, and behind her stands Koh the Face Stealer.

" _You used to be nothing..._ " says Vaatu, musingly. " _Just a way for the great spirit to be able to look at one of his favorite faces again. But now... now we are one. Two spirits, joined together, and able to do marvelous things. We can rule the world together._ "

Behind her, her father speaks up, " _The Minder? Don't be ridiculous. You're nothing but someone else's face._ "

In the corner of her eye, a third contender. She turns her head to see someone who looks just like her with blackened hair, dressed in the traditional garb of a Water Tribe bride. The woman stares at her for a long time, then smiles, her entire mouth toothless.

Ka slowly raises her hands to her face—except there is nothing but smooth surface.

She screams soundlessly and her vision is engulfed in black.

When she opens her eyes a second time, she's staring at the ceiling of her tent, and silent tears are streaming down her face. Aang lifts his head from where he lies beside her, giving her a concerned look, and she only lets out a tiny sob and lets her eyes flutter closed.

* * *

(Could she ever be herself, when _herself_ is only made up of other people?)

* * *

Ka very pointedly ignores the fact that the comet is creeping closer and closer.

After all, she is sure that Aang is more than capable of defeating the Fire Lord on his own.

* * *

Seeing Katara spare the man who killed her mother after an incredible reluctance causes Zuko to feel some sort of strange new respect for her, but also the idea of forgiveness.

 _It is easy to do nothing,_ Ka had said, looking him right in the eye, her arms folded over her chest, _but it is hard to forgive._

She had been talking about him. His betrayal, their connection, her eventual guidance into their group. And the way she looks at him now is almost equivalent to the way he has always gazed in her direction.

He thinks about this as they fly back, as they reunite with their group (Ka is nowhere to be found), as he tells Aang about Katara's hesitance and eventual sparing of him, as he approaches Katara alongside Aang to where she sits on the boardwalk.

"Katara?" Aang asks. "Are you okay?"

"I'm doing fine." It sounds like a lie.

"Zuko told me what you did," Aang goes on. "Or what you didn't do, I guess. I'm proud of you."

"I wanted to do it," Katara says, her voice filled with pain. "I wanted to take out all my anger at him, but I couldn't. I don't know if it's because I'm too weak to do it or because I'm strong enough not to."

In all of his time knowing Katara, Zuko knows for sure that there has never been an instance where he thought of her as weak. Never considered it. In the past, it had annoyed him how strong-willed she was. She never backed down. Ever.

Now, he admires it.

(He has a few choice words for his past self.)

"You did the right thing," Aang says. "Forgiveness is the first step you have to take to begin healing."

Katara rises from the boardwalk and frowns at them. "But I didn't forgive him. I'll never forgive him." But then she smiles, and walks over towards Zuko. "But I am ready to forgive you."

She wraps her arms around him and he hugs back, and she pulls away with a bigger smile, a pat on his shoulder, then walks off.

"You were right about what Katara needed," he then admits. "Violence wasn't the answer."

"It never is," is Aang's reply, exactly what he suspected it to be.

"Then I have a question for you. What are you and Ka going to do when you face my father?"

* * *

Nobody sees Ka for the rest of the night. Aang begins to get jittery and worried, but says the anxiety is not coming from itself.

Zuko spends too much time searching all around their campsite, fearing the worst.

He eventually finds her, standing over the edge of the cliff, gazing down into the rocky waters below. Her toes hang over the cliffside, her body wobbling, as if threatening to fall.

It almost looks as if she is talking to someone, under her breath, her mouth moving angrily and the shine of tears on her face startles him so much that he rushes forward and grabs her by the waist, yanking her backwards into his arms. She screams, whirling around, and punches at his chest and arms, yelling at him to let go, to let her fall, because she is nothing but evil.

 _Evil?_

"Ka!" he shouts, holding onto her forearms and steadying her. She gazes up at him with wide, startled eyes. "It's me. It's Zuko."

She blinks once, twice, then her entire face beams with rage. "Let go of me."

"Not when you're about to jump off a cliff!"

"I was not going to jump!"

"Then what are you doing out here!?"

Ka is quiet for a moment. "Contemplating," she eventually replies.

Zuko raises an eyebrow. "About what?"

Another beat of silence. Then, "Do you know of the first Avatar and Minder?"

A random question. Zuko shakes his head. "No? What does _this_ have to do with anything?"

"The Avatar was made from the spirit of light," Ka whispers, her voice shaky, and _oh,_ this is what she meant by _evil,_ "and the Minder... from the spirit of darkness."

"Ka—"

"I am the child of Koh the Face Stealer." Her voice is getting more hysterical, louder. "I am a _stolen_ face! I am only the Minder because of an accident! I can do nothing! _Nothing!_ I am useless! _Evil!_ The child of darkness and thievery, I—"

"Ka, _Ka,_ " he says, repeating her name over and over until she hiccups and stops talking, "listen to me." He takes her face in his hands, smoothing his thumb over her tears. Her hand reaches up and grabs one of his, digging her nails painfully into his skin—not for him to let go, but to ground herself. "You are not evil," he urges. "You are the _Minder._ "

"But I—"

"You are a beacon of hope, just like the Avatar is. Neither of you is better than the other. You both have your dark and light sides." Zuko has seen Aang's anger, his fury. "Haven't you seen what your presence has given the world? What you have done for other people?" He swallows his embarrassment. "For me?"

Ka stops hiccuping, and gazes up at him with glassy, wide eyes.

He chuckles lightly. "I think you of all people would think that one's origins don't define them."

She gazes down, her tears now falling silently. Zuko has never seen a face like this on her before. He doesn't like it.

"I didn't deserve to become the Minder," she murmurs.

"I don't think there's a better person to be them," Zuko counters.

Ka scoffs, shakes her head. "I don't deserve any of this." Her grip on his hands tighten.

Zuko smiles. " _I'm_ the undeserving one." Another noncommittal sound.

The moon is bathing her in an incredible light, one that reminds Zuko time and time again that she is a _spirit,_ from another world, a being above them. She is the _Minder,_ with so much power at her fingertips and so much energy surrounding her. Her eyes are so bright and hold the universe in them.

He can't stop himself.

(But when he leans in, she meets him halfway.)

* * *

"Doesn't it seem kind of weird that we're hiding from the Fire Lord in his own house?"

Ka has only seen glimpses of Ember Island from her visits with Zuko. But now that she can see it in full, it is a beautiful place, and so warm and so soothing that she does not even mind the constant firebending training her teacher puts her through.

"I told you," Zuko says, stretching his arms above his head after finishing a firebending kick, "my father hasn't come here since our family was actually _happy._ " He moves to sit on a fountain; Ka sits down next to him and hands him a cloth to wipe himself down with. "And that was a long time ago. It's the last place anyone would think to look for us."

Ka snorts, and leans over to pat his sweaty head. "Well, now you are here with your new family."

He pouts at her, cheeks going pink.

Katara scoffs. "Alright, lovebirds."

Before she can even say anything else, Sokka and Suki come running in with excited grins, the former going, "You guys are not gonna believe this! There's a play about us."

Suki grins. "We were just in town and we found this poster!" Sokka opens the poster to them, and Suki gestures to it excitedly.

The poster depicts Aang, Sokka, and Katara all standing in the front over a wide ocean, with Zuko's scarred face in the background. His scar, Ka notes, is on the wrong side of his face. She also notes that she is nowhere to be found.

"What?" Katara asks in disbelief. "How is that possible?"

"Listen to this," Sokka says, turning the poster towards him and reading the inscriptions on it. " _'The Boy in the Iceberg' is a new production from acclaimed playwright Pu-on Tim, who scoured the globe gathering information on the Avatar, from the icy South Pole to the heart of Ba Sing Se. His sources include singing nomads, pirates, prisoners of war, and a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage._ "

" _Brought to you by the critically-acclaimed Ember Island Players,_ " Suki finishes.

"Ugh!" Zuko suddenly exclaims. The others turn to look at him with confused gazes. "My mother used to take us to see them. They butchered _Love Amongst the Dragons_ every year!"

Ka just snorts at him.

"Sokka," Katara asks, "do you really think it's a good idea to attend a play about _ourselves?_ "

"Come on," Sokka whines, "a day at the theater? This is the kind of wacky time-wasting nonsense I've been missing!" He holds up the poster anxiously and smiles sheepishly.

Ka frowns, crossing her arms. "I am not even on the poster!"

Aang pauses. "Hey, you're right! Maybe you're a surprise guest?"

"Surprise guest ...?" Ka repeats, furrowing her eyebrows. "I guess..."

* * *

They end up going to the theater anyway.

Aang wears a hat to cover his tattoos, while Ka uses what she has left of her black hair dye to mask the whiteness of it. They all shuffle into the balcony area of the theater—Aang complains for a bit about not wanting to sit next to Katara, but eventually he relents, moving over to sit next to Ka. She looks between him and Zuko, then apologizes under her breath.

"Why are we sitting in the nosebleed section?" Toph asks. "My feet can't see a thing from up here!"

"Don't worry," Katara says, "I'll tell your feet what's happening."

The curtain then rises, revealing a set representative of the Southern Pole's seas. Actress Katara and Actor Sokka are rowing their boat along; the real Sokka shakes his sister's shoulder excitedly, pointing at the stage and then one another. Except the actors portraying them seem a bit... _off._ The man playing Sokka is much more thin and pale-skinned, while the woman playing Katara is much older, more curvy, and wearing much more revealing Water Tribe garments.

"Sokka," sighs the Actress Katara, "my only brother! We constantly roam these icy South Pole seas, and yet never do we find anything fulfilling!"

"All I want is a full feeling in my stomach! I'm starving!"

The audience laughs. Sokka and Katara look at each other, confused.

"Is food the only thing on your mind?" scolds Actress Katara.

"Well, I'm trying to get it out of my mind and into my mouth. I'm starving!"

Again, the audience laughs. Sokka leans forward in his seat, clearly annoyed, "This is pathetic! My jokes are way funnier than this!"

Toph cackles, "I think he's got you pegged!"

The actress playing Katara stands in the canoe dramatically. "Every day, the world awaits a beacon to guide us, yet none appears!" She holds her hands out in front of her and clasps them together. "Still, we cannot give up hope! For hope—" and now, she is crying, "—is all we have! And we must never relinquish it, even... even to our dying breath!"

Actress Katara begins to sob loudly, and the group looks over at Katara silently.

The real Katara crosses her arms, displeased. "Well, that's just silly. I don't sound like that!"

"Oh man!" Toph laughs. "This writer's a _genius!_ "

An iridescent light suddenly appears from above the stage and the actors turn their heads upwards. A model iceberg rises, a vague shadow of a figure visible from behind.

"It appears to be someone frozen in ice," Actress Katara says, "perhaps for a hundred years!"

"But who? Who is the boy in the iceberg?"

Beside Ka, Aang leans forward in his seat, smiling. Katara's actress gives a very weak fake chop of her hand, and the silhouette disappears as the model iceberg splits open. A jet of steam shoots out, and from behind the stage, an _actress_ playing Aang leaps up and poses, winking, with one hand on her hip.

Aang's eyes widen in disbelief.

"Who are you, frozen boy?" asks Actress Katara.

The actress playing Aang laughs in a very high-pitched tone. "I'm the Avatar, silly! Here to spread joy and fun!"

"Wait... is that a _woman_ playing me?"

A crude, costumed-version of Appa bursts up from behind the model iceberg sways from side to side to the tune of loud festival music and then leaps off the prop.

The actress playing Katara gasps. "An airbender!" She clasps her hands to her chest. "My heart is so full of hope, that it's making me _tearbend!_ " She grabs onto Actress Aang's leg and sobs, bawling dramatically.

"My stomach is so empty that's it's making _me_ tearbend!" Actor Sokka exclaims, grabbing onto Actress Aang's other leg and crying. "I need meat!"

Actress Aang stoops down, puts her arm around the fake Sokka's shoulders, and points upward. "But wait! Is that a platter of meaty dumplings!"

The real Aang looks wholly unimpressed as Actor Sokka jumps up excitedly, "Ooh, where, here?"

Actress Aang laughs and swings her arm jovially. "Did I mention that I'm an incurable prankster?"

The audience laughs. Aang throws his hands in the air in frustration. "I don't do that! That's not what I'm like! And I'm _not_ a woman!"

"Oh, they nailed you, Twinkle Toes!"

When they look back at the stage, the iceberg has been traded for a model Fire Nation ship gliding across the fake waters, with two actors portraying Zuko and Iroh standing on the bow of the ship. Zuko's actor has very long hair and a realistic scar, although on the wrong side.

"Prince Zuko," says the actor playing Iroh, "you must try this cake!" He holds up a platter with one slice missing."

Actor Zuko looks through the telescope. "I don't have time to stuff my face!" He lowers it and turns to glare at his uncle. "I must capture the Avatar to regain my honor!" He clutches his fist assertively.

Actor Iroh pauses. "Well, while you do that, maybe I'll capture another slice!" He holds it up before bringing it to his face and gobbling it down ravenously and noisily.

"You sicken me!"

Ka wrinkles her nose at their obvious offensive depiction of the Fire Nation general. Then, she turns to the real Zuko, whom everyone else is staring at. He looks displeased, his arms crossed, and gestures towards the stage with a, "They make me look totally stiff and humorless."

"Well..." Ka hums.

"Actually," Katara says, amused, "I think that actor's pretty spot on."

Zuko holds his arms out in protest. "How could you say that?"

Actor Iroh smiles. "Let's forget about the Avatar and get massages!"

In a complete mockery of the real Zuko seconds before, Actor Zuko whirls around and shouts, "How could you say that?"

Zuko slumps down in his seat, defeated. Ka pats at his hand.

Her patting stops when she realizes that the scene has begun to change from outside of the South Pole. She shares a confused look with Aang, then back towards the stage. They are at the Southern Air Temple now, and Momo is a puppet—but she is nowhere to be found. She has not even been mentioned once. Not on the poster, not in the play, not in anything.

Sokka voices her suspicions, "Did they cut Ka out?"

 _Anger_ rushes through her. She is so _insignificant_ to them that they _cut her out._ The play moves onto Kyoshi Island, to Omashu, to the stealing of the waterbending scroll, and she is nowhere.

Nonexistent.

"It seems as if they have," she replies, her voice tight, barely masking her anger.

Not masked enough. Zuko gives her a somewhat fearful and concerned gaze. She manages to watch until the North Pole, at which point she has to turn her gaze away and frown deeply.

"Are you okay?"

"I am annoyed," she replies.

Zuko snorts. "I can see that."

Her and Aang's first fusion was a lot more emotional and powerful than the actress depicts. She is too playful, too giggly, and not serious enough to show just how horrifying they truly were together.

Then, the intermission. They all sit on a flight of stairs, all in various states of emotion.

"So far, this intermission is the best part of the play," Zuko groans.

"Apparently," Sokka says, walking down the stairs with a bag of flaming fire flakes and sitting next to Suki, "the playwright thinks I'm an idiot who tells bad jokes about meat all the time!"

"Yeah," Suki agrees, a hint of sarcasm, "you tell bad jokes about plenty of other topics."

"I know!"

Aang frowns. "At least the Sokka actor kind of looks like you. The woman playing the Avatar doesn't resemble me at all!"

"I don't know," Toph says, "you are more in touch with your feminine side than most guys."

"Ugh!"

"Relax, Aang," Katara says. "They're not accurate portrayals. It's not like I'm some preachy crybaby who can't resist giving overemotional speeches about hope all the time." There is a pause. Everyone looks at her. "What?"

"Yeah," Aang says sarcastically, sitting back down on the stairs, "that's not you at all."

"Listen, friends," Toph speaks up, "it's obvious that the playwright did his research. I know it must hurt, but what you're seeing up there on that stage is the truth."

"The truth," Ka repeats in a scoff, pushing herself off the railing of the stairs. "Of course it is the truth."

And without another word, she goes back into the theater.

* * *

The second part of the play starts to fade into their venture into the Earth Kingdom. Toph is played by a loud, muscular man—very fitting—and Actress Azula is very exaggerated and tiny.

Ka does not pay attention to any of it until a hollow rock falls onto Actor Jet and Zuko's face turns into very obvious worry and displeasure.

"Did Jet just... die?" he asks, voice small.

"You know, it was really unclear," says Sokka.

But they all know the truth. Ka just turns his head towards him and nods, and Zuko looks away with a very pained look in his eyes. There is something he is not telling her.

"What?" she asks softly, tilting her head.

"I knew Jet back in Ba Sing Se," he replies, "for... for a little bit. On the ferry. He, uh..." He blushes. "We had a... thing."

A thing. Ka stares at him blankly for a few moments before she gets it. "Oh."

"But he's dead... That's..." He frowns again, and Ka just silently takes his hand.

Aang ends up getting up and leaving when Actress Katara and Actor Zuko flirt and hug in the play's mock depiction of the Crystal Catacombs. Ka feels his anger and his frustration, and holds onto Zuko's hand tighter.

The play makes it all the way until the battle of Ba Sing Se, where Azula struck them down and killed them both, and locked part of their connection. Actress Aang's body is struck by a streamer of blue, but the pain is still there. Still real.

Then the second intermission rolls in. Aang is away as the rest of the group stands together.

"It seems like every time there's a big battle, you guys barely make it out alive," Suki says thoughtfully. "I mean, you guys lose a lot!"

"That last battle you just saw?" Ka deadpans, not even looking at her. "We did not make it out alive."

Suki falls silent. Sokka turns to her and says, "You're one to talk, Suki. Didn't Azula take you captive? That's right, she did!"

"... Are you trying to get on my bad side?"

"I'm just saying..."

Katara leaves to go find Aang, while Suki goes to get Sokka backstage so he can give the actor that plays him some jokes. It leaves Toph, Zuko, and Ka alone, sitting against the wall.

"Jeez," Toph says, "everyone's getting so upset about their characters. Even you seem more down than usual, and that's saying something!"

"You don't get it," Zuko scoffs, "it's different for you. You get a muscly version of yourself, taking down ten bad guys at once, and making sassy remarks."

"Yeah, that's pretty great!"

"But for me, it takes all the mistakes I've made in my life, and shoves them back in my face." Zuko's frown turns deeper. "My uncle, he's always been on my side, even when things were bad. He was there for me, he taught me so much, and how do I repay him? With a knife in his back. It's my greatest regret, and I may never get to redeem myself."

"You have redeemed yourself to your uncle," says Toph, her voice suddenly a lot softer than before. "You don't realize it, but you already have."

"How do you know?"

She smiles. "Because I once had a long conversation with the guy, and all he would talk about was you."

"... Really?"

"Yeah, and it was kind of annoying."

"Oh, sorry."

"But it was also very sweet. All your uncle wanted was for you to find your own path, and see the light. Now you're here with us. He'd be proud." After a pause, she punches him in the shoulder.

"Ow!" he exclaims. "What was that for?"

"That's how I show affection."

Ka smiles at the exchange, but the thinks back to the play. About all their portrayals. Eventually, she says, "Everyone finds me so insignificant they voided me from the story itself."

There is a moment of silence. Then, Toph turns to her with a grin and says, "If they had put you in the story, it'd be too awesome to even get it down right. The entire thing would be about you."

Despite everything, it makes her feel a little better.

A young boy in an Aang costume suddenly comes running by, and stops when he sees Zuko sitting there. "Your Zuko costume's pretty good, but your scar's on the wrong side."

When he runs off, Zuko's jaw drops in disbelief. "The scar is not on the wrong side!" He huffs and covers his face with his hood.

* * *

Ka can feel the tension before Aang even returns to the theater. He sits in the back, away from everyone else, and when he sees the look on Katara's face she knows something has happened.

The invasion happens, and it is wholly unimpressive save for the fact that Actor Zuko joins them just then. How spot-on, she thinks.

Sokka goes to leave, but the play is not over yet.

Actor Ozai appears on stage, and a orange lantern flies across the sky, in a mockery of the comet.

Actor Azula and Actor Zuko fight, with the latter dying dramatically in a trapdoor of flames. The real Zuko beside Ka tenses up, looking anxious all of a sudden.

Then, Actress Aang faces Actor Ozai. The battle is short and filled with streamers and banners, and in the end, a large red sheet painted as fire is blasted at her, and the actress becomes wrapped around the blanket and falls to the ground, eyes closed, unmoving.

"It is over, Father. We've done it!"

"Yes! We have done it! The dreams of my father—" Large fire sheets rise behind the actor and a platform lifts him up; it is almost as if the room has gotten hotter, "—and my father's father, have now been realized! The world... is... _mine!_ "

The play ends. The audience cheers.

Ka is only left with a realization that the large battle is only days away, and an overwhelming anxiety.

* * *

"That... wasn't a good play."

"I'll say."

"No kidding."

"Horrible."

"You said it."

"But the effects were decent!"

* * *

 **i think perhaps next chapter i may include either all four parts of sozin's comet, or two at a time.**

 **so be on the lookout, for either two more chapters left, or three.**

 **we're getting close to the end.**


	23. season three: episodes 18-19

_Breathtaking._

That's the only word that comes to his mind. The only word he _can_ use in this moment.

He had wandered out of the beach house to see Aang and Ka facing one another from a considerable distance on the line of the ocean. He didn't realize until the rest of the group began cheering on the side that they were sparring. The Avatar versus the Minder.

Two of the most powerful humans in the world, with the knowledge of all four elements, were battling one another right in front of him.

So he promptly took a seat next to Sokka, and decided to watch it all go down.

He is somewhat embarrassed to admit that most of his attention went towards Ka—to her movements, the twirl of her hips, the glowing of her skin in the sun ( _gods,_ he realized, she wasn't wearing a shirt, only her underwrappings). With every wave of her arms and fierce flick of her wrists, she bent each element with the grace only a spirit could have, with the energy only someone who has seen it all could possess.

Breathtaking.

In the end, after a sparring match filled with cheers and laughter, there is no winner, and that is when Zuko is reminded, not for the first time, that the Avatar and the Minder are truly equal, and not one more powerful than another, like the Fire Nation and the rest of the world has taught him since the beginning.

After the cheers die down, Katara jumps to her feet and excitedly rushes back into the beach house. Running back out, she holds up two watermelons with a grin. "Who wants a nice cool glass of watermelon juice?"

"Ooh, me!" Aang exclaims, brightening, despite the dirt coating his face. "Me, me, me!"

Just when Ka is about to walk over, Zuko grabs her by the wrist, and pulls her back. "What are you doing?" he asks in disbelief. "You guys should be still practicing while you have time."

"Come on, Zuko," Suki drawls from where she lounges against Sokka, "just take a break. What's the big deal?"

"The _big deal?_ " Zuko repeats incredulously. "The _big deal_ is that you all are lounging around like a bunch of snail sloths when Sozin's Comet is only _three_ days away! What's the matter with all of _you!?_ "

Everyone looks at him in silence. His eye twitches.

"What?"

Ka rips her arm away from his grip. "Aang planned on waiting until _after_ it came."

"After?"

"I'm not ready," Aang says sheepishly. " _We_ aren't. We need more time to master firebending."

"And frankly," Toph speaks up, "your earthbending could still use some work too."

"So, you all _knew_ they were going to wait?" Zuko scoffs.

"Honestly, if Aang and Ka tried to fight the Fire Lord now, they'd lose," Sokka says, and then turns over to the two of them when they frown. "No offense."

"The whole point of fighting the Fire Lord before the comet was to stop the Fire Nation from winning the war," explains Katara, "but they pretty much won the war when they took Ba Sing Se. Things can't get worse."

Ka grimaces. Zuko shares her look.

"You're wrong," he says bitterly. "It's about to get worse than you can even imagine. The day before the eclipse, my father asked me to attend an important war meeting. It was what I dreamed about for so many years. My father had finally accepted me back..."

* * *

 _"Welcome, Prince Zuko," greets his father, smirking. "We waited for you."_

 _He walks up to his father and bows, sitting down next to him at the seat not taken._

 _"General Shinu, your report."_

 _"Thank you, sir." Said general stands and walks to the opposite side of Fire Lord Ozai from across the table. "Ba Sing Se is still under our control. However, earthbender rebellions have prevented us from achieving total victory in the Earth Kingdom."_

 _"What is your recommendation?"_

 _"Our army is spread too thin, but once the eclipse is over and the invasion defeated, we should transfer more domestic forces into the Earth Kingdom."_

 _"Hmm..." His father looks over at him suddenly. "Prince Zuko, you've been among the Earth Kingdom commoners. Do you think that adding more troops will stop these rebellions?"_

 _He thinks of just who those commoners were. Li, Jet, the kind people who would come into the tea shop everyday..._

 _"The people of the Earth Kingdom are proud and strong," he says, trying to keep his voice from shaking, hoping they will not notice his treachery, the way his mind is constantly filled with the gleam of violet eyes. "They can endure anything, as long as they have hope."_

 _"Yes... you're right," muses Fire Lord Ozai. "We need to destroy their hope."_

 _"Well, that's not exactly what I—"_

 _"I think you should take their precious hope and the rest of their land and burn it all to the ground," Azula interrupts._

 _"Yes..." Fire Lord Ozai nods. "Yes, you're right, Azula." He stands and walks towards the world map. "Sozin's Comet is almost upon us, and on that day, it will endow us with the strength and power of a hundred suns. No bender will stand a chance against us."_

 _"What are you suggesting, sir?" General Shinu asks._

 _"When the comet last came, my grandfather, Fire Lord Sozin, used it to wipe out the Air Nomads." Fire Lord Ozai smiles. "Now, I will use its power to end the Earth Kingdom."_

 _No._

 _"Permanently."_

 _No..._

 _"From our airships, we will rain fire over their lands, a fire that will destroy everything; and out of the ashes, a new world will be born, a world in which all the lands are Fire Nation... and I am the supreme ruler of everything!"_

* * *

"I wanted to speak out against this horrifying plan," Zuko goes on, swallowing thickly, "but I'm ashamed to say I didn't. My whole life, I struggled to gain my father's love and acceptance, but once I had it, I realized I'd lost myself getting there. I'd forgotten who I was."

Katara slaps a hand over her mouth, grips her brother's forearm with a shaky hand. "I can't believe this..."

"I always knew the Fire Lord was a bad guy," Sokka says, "but his plan is just pure evil."

Aang looks up with wide eyes. "What are we gonna do?"

"I know you're scared," Zuko says, walking up to him, because Ka has her back turned and is not saying a word, "and I know you're not ready to save the world, but if you don't defeat the Fire Lord before the comet comes, there won't be a world to save anymore."

"Why didn't you tell us about this?" Ka suddenly exclaims, marching up to him, poking an angry finger against his chest.

"I didn't think I had to!" Zuko shouts back. "I assumed you two were still going to fight him before the comet! No one told me you decided to wait!"

Aang groans, holding his head with both hands. "This is bad," he murmurs, sinking down to his knees. "This is really, really bad."

Ka walks over to him and kneels down beside him, putting an arm around his shoulder. "I'm here, Aang."

"You two don't have to do this alone," Katara assures, smiling.

"Yeah!" Toph exclaims. "If we all fight the Fire Lord together, we got a shot at taking him down."

"Alright!" Sokka shouts excitedly. "Team Ava-Minder is back! Air, water, earth, fire, spirit, fan and sword!" The leaf he uses to hold up as a sword wilts.

Everyone just stares at him. Zuko is still caught on the term _Team Ava-Minder._

"Fighting the Fire Lord is going to be the hardest thing we've ever done together," Aang and Ka say in unison, and they smile, "but I wouldn't want to do it any other way."

They all join together for a hug, save for him, who simply stares at them with confused eyes.

"Get over here, Zuko," Katara urges, smirking at him from the circle. "Being part of the group also means being part of group hugs."

It isn't her words what makes him finally walk over, but the way Ka tilts her head at him and outstretches her arm, offering him a spot beside her. With a small blush on his face, he walks over, joining the hug. Suddenly, Appa flies in, and knocks them over when he lands on top of them.

It's the warmest he's felt in a long time.

* * *

When the hugging is all said and done, Zuko takes her and Aang to underneath the pavilion, where he deems his _most important lesson_ will take place.

(Ka thinks her sort-of-boyfriend is just being dramatic.)

"There's one technique you need to know before facing my father," he explains, "how to redirect lightning."

(Or maybe not.)

"If you let the energy in your body flow, the lightning will follow it." Zuko uses his fingers to demonstrate, from his fingertips, down to his stomach, and back out the other way. "You turn your opponents' energy against them."

Ka raises her eyebrows, and copies him. "It's so smooth..." she observes. "Waterbending?"

"Exactly," Zuko smiles. "My uncle invented this technique himself by studying waterbenders."

Ka resists the urge to grin. "Of course he did."

"So," Aang inquires curiously, "have _you_ ever redirected lightning before?"

"Once," Zuko replies, surprising her, "against my father."

"What did it feel like?"

Zuko freezes in place and lets his arms fall back to his sides. "Exhilarating... but terrifying. You feel so powerful holding that much energy in your body, but you know if you make the wrong move, it's over."

Aang chuckles. "Well, not over over. I mean, there's always Katara and a little spirit water action." He turns to where Katara sits off to the side. "Am I right?"

"Actually," Katara replies, "I used it all up after Azula shot you two."

Ka scowls. Zuko gives her a look, but she just looks away.

"Oh," Aang muses, disappointed.

"You'll have to take the Fire Lord's life before he takes yours," Zuko says matter-of-factly.

Ka scoffs, and shares a look with Aang. "Yes, of course," she drawls sarcastically, "we will do just that."

* * *

This is ridiculous. Ka wants no part on this, but her friends insist, so here she is, watching Sokka put a carved melon on a draped mannequin.

"Gather 'round, Team Ava-Minder," he starts. "In order to take out the Fire Lord—or in this case, the _Melon Lord—_ our timing has to be perfect." He kneels, taking a stick from the ground to draw a line heading towards the Melon Lord symbol. "First, Suki and I will draw his fire. Then, Katara and Zuko charge in with some liquidy-hot defense, and while the Melon Lord is distracted, Aang and Ka swoop in and— _bam!_ They deliver the final blow."

Ka frowns. "Something tells me the real battle will not be this simplistic."

"Uh..." Toph asks. "What about me?"

"For now, you're the Melon Lord's forces."

A grin spreads across her face. "So I get to chuck flaming rocks at all of you?"

"Whatever makes the training feel more realistic," Sokka waves her off.

"Sweetness."

Then, the Melon Lord training commences. It's as ridiculous as Ka had expected to be.

"Mwah-ha-ha-ha!"

"Watch it, Toph!"

"I am not Toph. I am _Melon Lord!_ "

She lights continuous boulders and sends them through the air at them. Stone Fire Nation soldiers come at them from the ground, but they all cut them down or bend them away.

It is up to Aang and Ka then, to deliver the final blow, so they jump in the air and prepare to destroy the Melon Lord with their staffs, one on either side, but they stop in unison, their staffs hovering just above its head, and they share a look, knowing the same truth.

"What are you waiting for?" Zuko calls, when they back away. "Take him out!"

"I—" they both break off, and then together, "We can't."

Sokka storms up to them. "What's wrong with you? If this was the real deal, you'd be shot full of lightning right now."

"I'm sorry, but it just didn't feel right," Aang says. "I didn't feel like myself."

"Everything in my body told me to stop," Ka goes on. "I know it was fake, but... even so..."

Sokka frowns, takes out his sword, and slices the head of the fake Fire Lord in half.

"There. That's how it's done."

Ka covers her mouth and turns away.

* * *

The group shares a meal outside in silence, while Aang and Ka are more distanced from the others.

Katara suddenly runs up to them, holding up a scroll. "I have a surprise for everyone!"

"I knew it!" Toph exclaims. "You did have a secret thing with Haru!"

There is a pause. "Uh, no," Katara replies. "I was looking for cooking pots in the attic, and I found this!" She unravels the scroll to reveal a painting of a happy, dark-haired baby playing by the beach. "Look at baby Zuko! Isn't he cute?"

Everyone laughs, save for Zuko himself.

"Oh, lighten up," Katara says to him. "I'm just teasing."

"That's not me," Zuko simply says. "It's my father."

Silence. Katara quietly rolls up the scroll.

"But he looks so sweet and innocent," Suki says.

"Well," Zuko says bitterly, "that sweet little kid grew up to be a monster, and the worst father in the history of fathers."

Aang lifts his head a little. "But he's still a human being."

Zuko looks to him incredulously. "You're going to _defend_ him?"

"No," Aang protests. "I agree with you." He rises to his feet and walks over to them. "Fire Lord Ozai is a horrible person, and the world would probably be better off without him, but there's _got_ to be another way."

"Like what?"

"I don't know," Aang admits, the perks up. "Maybe we can make some big pots of glue, and then I can use gluebending to stick his arms and legs together so he can't bend anymore."

"Please do not tell me you are serious," Ka sighs.

"Yeah," Zuko says sarcastically, "then you can show him his baby pictures, and all those happy memories will make him good again."

"Do you really think that would work?" Aang asks excitedly.

"No!" Zuko shouts.

Aang frowns, and paces back and forth. "This goes against everything I learned from the monks. I can't just go around wiping out people I don't like."

"Sure you can," Sokka says. "You're the Avatar and the Minder. If it's in the name of keeping balance, I'm pretty sure the universe will forgive you."

"This is no _joke,_ Sokka!" Ka shouts. "None of you could _possibly_ understand the position we are in!"

"Aang, Ka, we do understand," Katara tries. "It's just—"

"Just what, Katara? What?"

"We're trying to help!"

"Then, when you figure out a way for me to beat the Fire Lord without taking his life, I'd love to hear it!" And with that, Aang turns around, and storms off.

"Aang, don't walk away from this—"

Zuko puts a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Let him go. He needs time to sort it out by himself." Then after a moment, he looks at Ka, eyebrows furrowed. "What about you?"

She glares at him, angered. "What about me?"

"How do _you_ feel about all this?"

"I am... conflicted," she admits, after a moment. "There is a side of me, deep inside my roots, telling me to not stop at just the Fire Lord. That is the downside to being tethered to the spirit of darkness." Vaatu, deep in her mind, chuckles. "But I am not a weak spirit, and I will not be brought down by that." She looks at him with fire in her eyes. "I will not kill the Fire Lord."

Zuko is quiet for a moment. "You almost killed me. How is _he_ any different?"

"Do you even _hear_ yourself!?" Ka all but shouts, getting up in his face. "How _dare_ you compare that to this!"

"Your father is _just_ as bad as mine! Don't you feel anything?"

Ka, taken aback by his words, steps back a little. She blinks a few times, and then shakes her head, clenching her fists beside her. With tired eyes, she notices that everyone else has very pointedly left, leaving the two of them alone.

"I feel... _everything,_ " she hisses. "The difference between your father and mine, is that my father is an ancient _spirit_ who has been around for _thousands_ of years, and yours is a human being who has been _groomed_ into the path of evil."

She turns around to walk away, to follow Aang, but before she does, she stops, and says:

"And you are _very_ different than your father."

Then she leaves.

* * *

When Aang sees her approach, eyes watery, he wordlessly rises to his feet and wraps his arms around her. They stand like that for quite some time, in one another's arms, reveling in their shared energy, their shared lives, their shared destiny.

Then they pull away, and meditate in silence.

Momo flies up onto her head, resting there.

"Hey, Momo," Aang greets with a smile, reaching up to stroke his head. "I don't suppose _you_ know what we should do."

Momo squawks in reply.

"Yeah, I didn't think so..."

* * *

She dreams of an island in the water and the feel of the ocean against her body.

She swims, and swims, and swims, until the world goes black once more.

* * *

Sokka throws the last bag onto the saddle, patting Appa's head for good measure.

"Okay, that's everything."

"Uh, no, it's not," Toph breaks in. "Where's Aang and Ka?"

After their fight, Zuko had not gone after her. But now, as he and the rest of his friends frantically search the beach house and down at the beach itself, he wishes he had, because the Avatar and the Minder are gone.

"Look, there are their footprints," Sokka points out, but the footprints end out into the ocean. "The trail ends here."

"So, they went out for a midnight swim and never came back?" Suki theorizes.

"Maybe they were captured," Katara guesses.

"I don't think so," Sokka says, and leans down to examine the footprints. "There's no sign of a struggle."

Toph scoffs, crosses her arms. "I bet they ran away again."

Sokka shakes his head. "They couldn't've. They left their gliders, and Appa."

"Then what do _you_ think happened to them, oh sleuthy one?"

"It's pretty obvious," Sokka says, and Zuko rolls his eyes. "Aang and Ka mysteriously disappear before an important battle? They're definitely on a Spirit World journey."

"Wouldn't their bodies still be here?" Zuko says.

"Oh," Sokka says, downcast, "yeah. Forgot about that."

"Then they've got to be somewhere on Ember Island. Let's split up and look for them."

Toph suddenly rushes over and latches onto his arm, causing him to flinch, and blush.

"I'm going with Zuko!" she announces, and when everyone stares at her in confusion, she explains, "What? Everyone else went on a life-changing field trip with Zuko. Now it's my turn."

Zuko just turns away, and wonders just where on earth Ka could be.

* * *

"And then when I was nine, I ran away again."

"Uh-huh."

"I know I shouldn't complain. My parents gave me everything I ever asked for, but they never gave me the one thing I really wanted: their love. You know what I mean?"

He can't take this anymore. He stops in place, sighs slowly, and turns around. "Look, I know you had a _really_ rough childhood, but we should really focus on finding Aang and Ka."

He starts walking again, and barely hears her mutter of _This is the worst field trip ever._

"Sorry to disappoint," he says back.

* * *

By the end of their search, nothing turns up, and Zuko finds himself more anxious than before. The last thing he did to Ka was yell at her and remind her of her breakdown in Ba Sing Se.

He's the worst boyfriend in the world.

(Though he wonders if they were even really dating in the first place.)

"Judging by the looks on your faces," Sokka says, jumping off Appa in front of the beach house, "I'm guessing you guys didn't find Aang or Ka, either."

"No," Zuko replies, clenching his fists in front of him. "No. It's like they just... disappeared."

"Hey, wait a minute," Toph speaks up suddenly. "Has anyone noticed that Momo is missing, too?"

Sokka turns back to Appa with wide eyes. "Oh no! I knew it was only a matter of time! Appa ate Momo!" He lifts up Appa's mouth frantically. "Momo, I'm comin' for you, buddy!"

"Sokka, Appa didn't eat Momo," Katara sighs. "He's probably with Aang and Ka."

"That's just what Appa _wants_ you to think." And with that, he jumps into Appa's mouth.

"Get out of the bison's mouth, Sokka," Zuko grouches. "We have a _real_ problem here. Aang and Ka are nowhere to be found, and the comet is only two days away."

"What should we do, Zuko?" Katara asks him.

"I don't know," he sighs, standing, and then looks at them when everyone else turns to stare at him. "Why are you all looking at _me?_ "

"Well, you _are_ kind of the expert on tracking Aang and Ka," Katara admits.

"Yeah," Toph agrees, "if anyone's got experience hunting the Avatar and Minder, it's you."

He pauses, but then nods. It's true, anyway, and if he's nothing if he's not determined.

* * *

"Uh, Zuko, I don't wanna tell you how to do your job, but why are we heading towards the Earth Kingdom? There's no way Aang's there."

"Just trust me."

He lands the group next to the tavern he hasn't visited in a very long time. When he does, the rest of his friends just stare at it incredulously, and then eye him.

They walk inside, the lively music and smell of thugs taking him back to times gone by.

Katara crosses her arms beside him. "And the reason you've brought us to a seedy Earth Kingdom tavern is what now?"

He points. "June."

The woman in question is simply holding a drink at a table, and with every man that tries to come and attack her, she kicks them all away with a single leg or a single bunch.

"Oh, yeah, that weird bounty hunter with the giant mole," Sokka says, reminiscing.

"Mole?" Suki echoes. "Her skin is flawless."

"No, she has this giant mole creature she rides around on."

"The shirshu," Zuko explains. "It's the only animal that can track Aang and Ka's scents anywhere in the world. It's the one shot we have of finding them."

Another thug tries to throw another punch at her. She tosses her drink in the air, throws the man into a table, catches her drink, and chugs it all in one go.

Toph grins broadly. "I don't know who this June lady is, but I like her!"

* * *

She wakes up to an uncomfortable branch underneath her side, and jerks upwards, rubbing at her head.

When she opens her eyes, blinks the sleepiness away, the setting surrounding her startles her fully awake. Luscious trees, branches, a strange carving into the ground, and the faint movement of the earth below.

Turning, she sees Aang slowly stir awake.

"Hey, Momo, I just had the strangest dream..." He sits up fully, takes note of Ka's startled expression, and glances up all around him. "Uh... wait. Where are we?"

* * *

June turns out to be a dead end. _They don't exist,_ she says, when her shirshu only freaks out and covers his nose at the scent of Aang's and Ka's staffs.

He curses.

"What do you mean they don't exist?" Sokka asks. "Do you mean they're... you know, dead?"

"Nope," June replies, petting her shirshu. "We could find them if they were dead. Wow, it's a real head-scratcher. See ya." She climbs onto her pet and starts to ride off.

"Helpful," Sokka drawls sarcastically. "Real helpful."

"Wait," Zuko breaks in, snapping his fingers. "I have another idea. There's only one other person in this world who can help us face the Fire Lord. I'll be right back with a smell sample."

As he rushes back to Appa to dig through his bag, he runs through the possibilities of Aang and Ka being _gone._ He doesn't want to think of alternatives to fighting the Fire Lord, not at all, but if they really _are_ gone...

 _Gone..._ He can't imagine a world without Ka. Not again.

He swallows down his worries, and walks back towards June, somewhat embarrassed by the sandal in his hands.

The rest of his friends shout in disgust, except for Toph, and quickly cover their noses.

"You saved your uncle's sweaty sandal?" Sokka asks in disbelief. "Ugh!"

Toph smiles. "I think it's kind of sweet."

Nyla jumps forward, sniffs the sandal, and then perks up.

June smirks. "We got a hit. Let's do this."

She and Nyla run off, and Zuko quickly rushes to get him and all of his friends on Appa. They follow her until the sky starts to fade into dusk, and his eyes widen in realization when they start to approach the destroyed Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se.

They decide to stop near the rubble, and Nyla starts digging at the wreckage.

"We're going to Ba Sing Se?" Zuko asks softly.

"Your uncle's somewhere beyond the wall," June says, and nudges Nyla to get him to stop scratching. "Nyla's getting twitchy so he can't be too far." She nods at them, serious for once in her life "Good luck."

Zuko turns to watch her leave, and then back towards the wreckage when she's gone. "It's been a long day," he sighs, feeling the exhaustion across his body. "Let's camp out and start our search again at dawn."

* * *

"Do you think we're in the Spirit World?" Aang asks.

Ka shakes her head, moving to step at a branch. "No," she replies. "Doubtful. Momo can still see us, anyway."

"All _three_ of us could be in the Spirit World," Aang theorizes, then takes a step back, and airbends right into Ka's face. "Hm. Nope. My bending still works."

Ka sighs, and smooths her hair back into place. "Perhaps we should climb to the top of the island. We can figure out just where we are."

Aang nods. "Good plan."

They start to walk, exploring the trees and the plants and the strangeness of it all. They start to approach a flat rock formation, and stepping onto it, they turn around and examine all corners of it.

"It's a hexagon," Aang says, somewhat questioningly. "It doesn't seem like normal rock..."

Ka plants her feet on the ground and earthbends. Except, she does not. "It... it's not made of earth," she says.

Aang sits on the ground, huffing. "This is so strange..."

Ka moves to sit next to him, Momo clambering onto her shoulder. She pets him with one hand, scratching her head with the other.

"I wish we had some help right now," Aang says, pouting. "I wish we had Roku, and Divya." Then he shoots straight up in realization. "We _do_ have them!"

He takes a deep breath and starts to meditate, and Ka quickly moves to copy him. They focus in sync, on their past lives, on their connection, and the spirits of Avatar Roku and Minder Divya rip apart from them and fade into view directly across from them.

" _You're right, Aang,_ " Roku says.

" _All the past Avatars, Minders, all their experiences and wisdom, is available to you,_ " Divya says, " _if you look deep inside yourself._ "

"Where are we?" Ka asks, furrowing her eyebrows.

"What is this place?" Aang goes on.

" _I... don't know, Aang, Ka,_ " Roku admits slowly. " _But we see you are lost in more ways than one right now._ "

"We are," Ka says softly.

"We need to figure out what to do once we face the Fire Lord," Aang says. "Everyone expects us to take the Fire Lord's life, but... I—we... we don't know if we can do that."

" _In my life, I tried to be disciplined and show restraint, but it backfired when Fire Lord Sozin took advantage of my restraint and mercy,_ " Avatar Roku explains.

" _If we had been more decisive and acted sooner, we could have stopped Sozin and the war before it started,_ " Divya goes on.

" _We offer you this wisdom,_ " they say, then, in unison. " _You must be decisive._ "

And they fade away. Aang gives Ka a disappointed look. Momo chirps in the background.

* * *

Being suddenly woken up to the sight of four old men in matching outfits was not how Zuko was planning to start his morning.

But Sokka and Katara seemed to be excited at the sight, so maybe it's not all that bad.

"What's going on?" Toph asks. "We're surrounded by old people."

"Not just _any_ old people!" Katara gasps, and walks up to the Water Tribe one. "These are great masters and friends of ours." She bows to him respectfully. "Pakku."

"It is respectful to bow to an old master," Pakku says, bowing back, but then straightens and extends his arms out with a smile, "but how about a hug for your new grandfather?"

"That's so exciting!" Katara exclaims, engulfing him in a hug. "You and Gran-Gran must be so happy to have found each other again!"

"I made her a new betrothal necklace and everything."

Toph and Zuko share a confused look.

Sokka runs up and hugs Pakku. "Welcome to the family, Gramp-Gramp!"

Pakku gently pushes him away, annoyed. "You can still just call me Pakku."

"How about... Grand-Pakku!"

"No."

Katara then leads Zuko towards the one with the crazy white hair. "And this was Aang and Ka's first firebending teacher."

He bows in reply. "Jeong Jeong."

Sokka bows to the other Fire Nation man. "Master Piandao."

He bows back with a smile. "Hello, Sokka."

"So, wait," Suki breaks in. "How do you all know each other?"

"All old people know each other," says the king of Omashu. "Don't you know that?" He laughs and snorts.

"We're all part of the same ancient secret society," Piandao explains. "A group that transcends the divisions of the four nations."

Zuko's eyes widen. All the games, everything makes sense now. "The Order of the White Lotus."

Bumi slides in. "That's the one!"

"The White Lotus has always been about philosophy and beauty and truth," Jeong Jeong says. "But about a month ago, a call went out that we were needed for something important."

"It came from a Grand Lotus," Pakku says, and looks at Zuko directly, his eyes strong, "your uncle, Iroh of the Fire Nation."

"Well, that's who we're looking for," Toph says.

Piandao nods. "Then we'll take you to him."

"Wait!" Bumi breaks in, pushing Piandao and Jeong Jeong out of the way to get up into his friends' faces. "Someone's missing from your group. Someone very important... Where's Momo!?"

"He's gone," Sokka replies after a moment. "And so are Aang and Ka."

Bumi leans back. "Oh, well," he says, patting Sokka on the chest. "So long as they have each other, I'm sure we have nothing to worry about. Let's go!"

He slams into the ground and launches himself away using earthbending while laughing and snorting. Zuko is finding it somewhat difficult to imagine this man taking down New Ozai and reclaiming his city all by himself.

* * *

"Avatar Kyoshi, Minder Kazuki, we need your wisdom."

Their two past lives reveal themselves before them, sitting close together, their expressions matching.

" _In our day, Chin the Conqueror threatened to throw the world out of balance. We stopped him, and the world entered a great era of peace._ "

"But you didn't really kill Chin," Aang points out.

"He fell to his own doom," Ka says, "too stubborn to move out of the way."

Kyoshi and Kazuki glance at one another, then continue on. " _Personally, we don't really see the difference, but we assure you, we would have done whatever it took to stop Chin. We offer you this wisdom, Aang and Ka; only justice will bring peace._ "

The two of them fade away, and Aang leans back on his hands with a huff.

Ka looks at him with raised eyebrows. "I told you we should not have asked them."

"Yeah, yeah..."

* * *

"Wow! You took back your whole city by yourself!" Suki exclaims, when King Bumi is finished telling the story of how Omashu became Omashu once more.

"So what about you guys?" he then asks, turning. "Did you guys do anything interesting on the day of the eclipse?"

Zuko shares a look with Sokka.

"Nah."

"No, not really."

* * *

"We need to look deep inside ourselves..."

The next duo that escapes them is Avatar Kuruk, a waterbending Avatar, and his Minder, Kanan. Ka notes that the two of them seem to be sitting a ways from one another, not even acknowledging the other's existence.

" _I am Avatar Kuruk._ "

" _I am Minder Kanan._ "

" _When I was young,_ " Kuruk says, " _I was always a go-with-the-flow kind of Avatar. People seemed to work out their own problems, and there was peace and good times in the world._ "

" _That you could see,_ " Kanan suddenly says bitterly, his eyes angry. " _We were arrogant. Divided. That was our mistake._ "

" _I lost the woman I loved to Koh,_ " Kuruk says, and Ka freezes in place, her entire body going cold, " _the Face Stealer. It was my fault. If I had been more attentive and more active, I could've saved her._ "

" _You must actively shape your own destiny and the destiny of the world,_ " finishes Kanan, and the two vanish.

Aang puts his head in his hands. Ka reaches up to cover her mouth, slowly closing her eyes.

* * *

"Well, here we are. Welcome to Old People Camp."

Zuko decides he likes Bumi. He walks into the camp, stopping right behind him, the anxiety suddenly catching up with him once more.

"Where... where is he?"

Piandao points to a large tent on the other side of the camp. "Your uncle's in there, Prince Zuko."

 _Prince Zuko._ He shivers, and lowers his head in shame as he walks over to the tent. Just before he can walk in, he stops, his hands shaking, and sits down right in front of the entrance.

Katara walks up behind him and puts a hand on his shoulder, squatting down. "Are you okay?"

"No," he admits in a soft voice, "I'm not okay. My uncle hates me, I know it." And he may be being dramatic, but his heart sinks to his stomach when he remembers his betrayal, and he starts to seethe in anger at himself. "He loved and supported me in every way he could, and I still turned against him. How can I even _face_ him?"

"Zuko," Katara says, "you're sorry for what you did, right?"

"More sorry than I've been about anything in my entire life."

"Then he'll forgive you. He will."

With her words, he's more assured, despite their simplicity. With a deep breath, he stands, and with shaky hands, opens the tent and walks inside.

"Uncle?"

The only reply he gets is the sound of faint snores. His uncle is alive and well, sleeping like a baby in the cot. He smiles, relieved, and moves to sit down in the center of the tent, waiting.

* * *

"All these past lives," Aang starts to rant, and Ka has a feeling he is speaking more to Momo than to her. "They keep telling us we're gonna have to do it. They don't get it." Momo chitters, and Aang smiles. "You're right. Maybe an Air Nomad Avatar will understand where I'm coming from."

Ka scoffs. "I did just suggest that earlier."

"I know," Aang laughs. "Pretending Momo can talk just helps me think."

"And me, actually talking, does not?"

"Oh, hush," Aang jokes, and Ka smirks at him before going back to meditating.

Then, once more, spirits are being ripped from their bodies and displayed before them, glowing blue, misty, and staring at them with their full attention.

" _I am Avatar Yangchen,_ " says the Air Nomad woman, " _young airbender and spirit._ "

" _And I am Minder Etsu'ka,_ " says the Water Tribe woman.

"Avatar Yangchen, " Aang starts, "the monks always taught me that all life is sacred. Even the life of the tiniest spider-fly caught in its own web."

" _Yes,_ " agrees Yangchen. " _All life is sacred._ "

Aang smiles. "I know! I'm even a vegetarian. I've always tried to solve my problems by being quick or clever. And I've only had to use violence for necessary defense. And I've _certainly_ never used it to take a life."

With a deep breath, Ka gazes at the Minder before her. "I do not want to be the angry, violent spirit Vaatu wishes of me."

" _I know you are gentle spirits,_ " Estu'ka says, with a bit of awe in her voice. " _The monks have taught you well._ "

" _But this is not about you,_ " Yangchen urges. " _This is about the world._ "

Aang's face falls. "But the monks taught me that I had to _detach_ myself from the world so my spirit could be free."

" _Many great and wise Air Nomads have detached themselves and achieved spiritual enlightenment..._ "

" _But the Avatar nor Minder can ever do it. Because your sole duty is to the world._ "

" _Here is our wisdom for you,_ " they say in unison. " _Selfless duty calls you to sacrifice your own spiritual needs, and do whatever it takes to protect the world._ "

When they disappear, leaving them with the air of their words, Momo skitters back onto Aang's lap and the latter exhales shakily before turning to Ka with wide, terrified eyes.

"I guess we don't have a choice," he says sorrowfully. "We have to kill the Fire Lord."

* * *

He is lost in thought when Uncle suddenly snorts, yawns, and rises from his cot to stretch. He glances back slightly and notices him there, and immediately freezes, saying nothing.

Zuko swallows nervously, clenching his hands in the fabric of his pants. "Uncle," he starts, hoping his voice isn't too shaky. "I know you must have mixed feelings about seeing me. But I want you to know," but his bracing wasn't enough, and the tears start to spill over, his voice cracking, "I am so, _so_ sorry, Uncle. I am _so_ sorry and ashamed of what I did. I don't know how I can ever make it up to you, but I'll—"

He's cut off by the warm embrace of his Uncle's arms around him, and the warm wetness into his shoulder. It feels like coming home, and he sniffles.

"How can you forgive me so easily? I thought you would be furious with me."

"I was never angry with you," replies his uncle. "I was sad... because I was afraid you lost your way."

"I did lose my way," he admits in a tiny voice.

Uncle untangles himself from him, and pulls back, his hand squeezing his shoulder. "But you found it again. And you did it by yourself. And I am _so_ happy you have found your way here."

Zuko leans in for another hug, and buries his face into his shoulder. "It wasn't that hard, Uncle," he murmurs. "You have a pretty strong scent."

* * *

Zuko stuffs down what food the White Lotus offers him before saying, "Uncle, you're the only person other than the Avatar and the Minder who can possibly defeat the Father Lord."

Toph pauses. "You mean the _Fire_ Lord."

"That's what I just said!"

"Hmm..." Uncle muses, frowning.

"We need you to come with us," Zuko urges.

"No, Zuko," Uncle disagrees, shaking his head. "It won't turn out well.

"You can beat him!" he exclaims. "And we'll be there to help."

His uncle sighs. "Even if I did defeat Ozai, and I don't know that I could, it would be the wrong way to end the war. History would see it as just more senseless violence; a brother killing a brother to grab power. The only way for this war to end peacefully is for the Avatar and the Minder to defeat the Fire Lord."

He frowns. They are gone. How are _they_ supposed to help?

"And then... then you would come and take your rightful place on the throne?"

"No," Uncle replies. "Someone _new_ must take the throne. An idealist with a pure heart and unquestionable honor." He looks directly into his eyes, and smiles. "It has to be _you,_ Prince Zuko."

The term doesn't hurt as much this time. Zuko's eyes widen, and he glances away. "Unquestionable honor? But I've made so many mistakes."

"Yes, you have," admits Uncle. "You've struggled, you've suffered, but you have always followed your own path. You restored your own honor, and only you can restore the honor of the Fire Nation."

He looks away, thinks of the first words Ka ever said to him, a long time ago. "I'll try, Uncle."

Toph clears her throat to get a word in, "Well, what if Aang and Ka don't come back?"

"Sozin's Comet is arriving," Uncle says, "and our destinies are upon us. Aang and Ka will face the Fire Lord." He takes a deep breath. "When I was a boy, I had a vision that I would one day take Ba Sing Se. Only now do I see that my destiny is to take it _back_ from the Fire Nation, so the Earth Kingdom can be free again."

"That's why you gathered the members of the White Lotus," Suki realizes.

"Yes." Uncle then turns to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Zuko, you must return to the Fire Nation, so that when the Fire Lord falls, you can assume the throne and restore peace and order. But Azula will be there, waiting for you."

Zuko frowns deeply. "I can handle Azula."

"Not alone! You'll need help."

He pauses. "You're right." Then, he turns to Katara, one of the most capable women he knows. "Katara, how would you like to help me put Azula in her place?"

She smirks. "It would be my pleasure."

"What about us?" Sokka asks. "What is our destiny today?"

His uncle just looks at him carefully. "What do _you_ think it is?"

Sokka pauses, scratches at his chin as he thinks. "I think that, even though we don't know where Aang or Ka are, we need to do everything we can to stop the airship fleet."

"And that means when Aang and Ka do face the Fire Lord, we'll be right there if they need us!" Toph exclaims.

His uncle smiles.

A few moments later, they gather Toph, Suki, and Sokka onto an eel hound. Piandao hands them a map, explaining where the airship base is being held, and how they'll be able to arrive within a day's journey.

Zuko hands Katara one of the bags so she can put it onto Appa's saddle. Then, he takes her outstretched hand, and clambers into the saddle, looking back to his uncle, to his friends, to the rest of the White Lotus.

"So if I'm going to be Fire Lord after the war is over," he asks, then pauses, "what are you going to do?"

"After I re-conquer Ba Sing Se, I'm going to re-conquer my tea shop, and I'm going to play Pai Sho every day." He flips a Pai Sho piece and catches it, grinning from ear to ear.

And it's such an Uncle thing to say, that Zuko gives a wobbly smile back.

He looks at Sokka, and nods once.

"Goodbye, General Iroh," Katara calls.

"Goodbye, everyone." And he smiles. "Today, destiny is our friend. I know it."

* * *

Ka idly drops leaves onto Aang's head as he naps on her lap. He suddenly wakes up when the ground shudders, and when Ka glances from him to the sky, she notices something, and raises to her feet.

"Wait," she says, and pulls Aang up beside her. "Is it just me, or are the mountains growing larger?"

Aang tilts his head. "It's not just you."

He bends down and uses airbending to propel himself upwards. Ka follows him, landing into the top of a tall tree, above the rest of the island. Looking forward, they see the expanse of ocean getting smaller and smaller, and behind them, is a wake behind the island.

"They're not getting larger," Aang says.

"We are getting closer!" Ka realizes. "The island is moving!"

They leap from the brush and dive into the water, swimming downwards and inspecting the island, how it does not connect with the ocean floor. Suddenly, a giant paw swoops past them, and they hover for a moment with wide eyes before shooting back up the surface.

Momo lands nearby, chittering curiously.

"It's amazing!" Aang exclaims, gasping for air. "The biggest animal in the world! We have to swim around and find its face!"

He leaps back down. Ka smooths her wet hair from her face and follows after him. Momo flies above them as they propel themselves through the water with their bending, until they reach what they believe to be the front. After sharing another look, they suddenly turn around to see an eye opening up behind them. They both almost gasp in shock, and then a paw moves underneath the two of them to lift them to the surface.

A lion turtle. A living one. And they stand before it.

"A lion turtle," Ka breathes, and she and her Avatar bow deeply. "Perhaps you can help us."

"Everyone, even our own past lives, are expecting me to end someone's life," Aang explains, and then glances downwards. "But we don't know if we can do it."

Then the lion turtle speaks, though its mouth does not move. Its voice rather radiates in their minds, through their bodies. " _The true mind can weather all the lies and illusions without being lost. The true heart can tough the poison of hatred without being harmed._ "

It lifts its other paw from the water, and touches a claw to each of their foreheads.

" _Since beginning-less times, darkness thrives in the void but always yields to purifying light._ "

A bright light blinds them, and suddenly the truth is being shown to them in the form of visions, and songs, and truths.

The lion turtle drops them off towards the small cliff, and they step off onto dry land, turning back to look at the great turtle.

" _Wait for him. He will come._ "

And with that, it sinks under the water, with no evidence that it had ever been there before. Momo flies over to land on Ka's shoulder, and with her free hand, she reaches out, and intertwines them with Aang's.

* * *

"It's time for this world to end in fire... and for a _new_ world to be born from the ashes."

And the comet has arrived.

* * *

 **next chapter will be the last two parts of sozin's comet. so expect next chapter, and an epilogue, most likely.**


	24. season three: episodes 20-21

**fight scenes... are incredibly difficult to write. ):**

* * *

The fact that he's going to be facing his sister barely passes through him. Instead, he thinks of his father, of Aang, of Ka—where they might be and when they might face. Who will win. If they even meet.

"Zuko," comes Katara's voice, her eyes giving him sympathy, "don't worry. We can take Azula."

He glances down, away from the sky. "It's not her I'm worried about," he admits somewhat softly. "I'm worried about Aang and Ka. What if they don't have the guts to take out my father? What if they lose? What if they don't even come back?"

The woman beside him lets out a small sigh, and reaches over to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "They're both incredibly strong, and too determined to let it all go to waste. They won't lose. They'll come back." Her confident words are somewhat distilled when she bites her lip and looks back ahead of them. "They have to."

* * *

They stand in silence atop the rocky pillars for what seems like hours, holding hands in a tight grip despite the anxiety making both of their palms sweaty and shaky.

This is it. This is what they have been waiting for. And yet...

"What if he doesn't come?"

Ka turns to look at him, and then towards the sky, where it darkens and yet lightens all the same, blooming a vibrant red to signal the coming of the comet, the coming of power.

"He will," she assures. "He has to. He has not spent years trying to destroy the world just to give it all up."

Aang nods once, and then pauses. "Is it bad that I almost don't want him to come?"

A tricky question. It takes her a moment to think of a reply, but nonetheless, the answer is, "No. It's not wrong to be fearful." Then, she slowly turns to look him in the eye, locking her jaw firmly. "I am afraid too. But... if we do not do this, there will be no world to save."

"I know," Aang replies, and his grip on her hand impossibly tightens. "I know. We failed once. We can't let that happen again."

"No," Ka agrees quietly. "We can't."

Above them, they can see the airships beginning to come. As the comet grows closer and closer, they can see the soldiers on the edge of the ships raise their palms, and blast into the earth blow. The strongest and fiercest blast comes from Fire Lord Ozai himself, who bears a sadistic grin as he watches his enormous blast ignite the land underneath him.

Ka slowly lifts a hand to stroke at Momo's fur. "Time for you to go," she says, and takes a deep breath when he flies off into the distance.

Letting go of the other's hand, the two take a simultaneous breath before moving in sync to earthbend giant sections of the stone pillar beneath them towards Ozai's ship. They jump to another pillar before the previous one can collapse, and watch as the chunks of rock whistle past the Fire Lord. The last few assaults strike the engine, causing the Fire Lord to lose both his balance and his flame. Smoke drifts from the broken engine and the airship begins to deflate and fall, and the look Fire Lord Ozai gives them when he finally glances down at them is enough to ignite the fire in both of them. So, together, they spin their bodies, gathering their energy, and unleash a giant blast of fire to give Ozai's ship its final blow.

Fire Lord Ozai removes his armor and his cloak, letting it burn to ash as it flutters away in the wind. Then, jumping off his falling platform, he shoots fire out from the bottom of his feet and flies like a comet towards them, leaving his airship smoldering away behind him.

When he lands to face them, he does not look angry, or annoyed, as they would expect. He is happy. Delighted. _Thrilled._

"After generations of Fire Lords failed to find you, now the universe delivers you to me as an act of providence," says Fire Lord Ozai, his eyes locked securely on Aang, as if she were invisible to the eye.

Except she is not. And she has made sure of that fact, and takes a step forward and lifts her chin when he spares a glance towards her.

"Please listen to me," Aang pleads, futile. "We don't have to fight. You have the power to end it here and stop what you're doing."

Ozai grins. "You're right. I _do_ have the power. I have _all_ the power in the _world!_ "

He spreads out his limbs and shoots horrific fire from his fists and mouth, screaming in both excitement and rage. Reluctantly, Aang assumes a fighting stance, and Ka follows his lead, eyebrows furrowed, filled with a rush she has never felt before.

The flames die, and the Fire Lord attacks.

He spins in the air and slams his fist downwards, sparking a circular wave of flames that spread towards them. They jump, slamming their hands and feet against the stone pillar below them, and each earthbend one large piece in his direction. Ozai only leaps away, and propels himself towards Aang using another jet of fire from his feet. Ka rushes towards him, swinging her arms out around her hips and in front of her, conjuring a wave of air to deflect the blast. The two attacks collide and send both of them flying backwards.

"Stupid girl," hisses the Fire Lord, when she stands and brushes off her singed clothes with no care in the world. "There's no need to meddle in our business."

But she has always been a spirit of few words. So instead of falling into his mockery, she lifts her head, and punches a blast of air.

* * *

"By decree of Phoenix King Ozai, I now crown you Fire Lord..."

"... What are you waiting for!? Do it!"

Zuko quickly steers Appa to land in the plaza courtyard, and stands atop the bison. "Sorry, but you're not gonna become Fire Lord today." He jumps off Appa, and gestures to himself. " _I_ am."

Azula stares, blinks, and then laughs hysterically. Her hair is tousled and unfit for royalty. There are bags under her eyes and a tremble racks her from head to toe. "You're hilarious."

Katara jumps off the bison, and stands beside him. "And you're going down."

The Fire Sage begins to resume crowning the princess, but Azula quickly lifts a hand, signaling for him to stop. "Wait," she says, smirking. "You want to be Fire Lord? Fine. Let's settle this. Just you and me, brother. The showdown that was always meant to be." And he knows what she is going to say before it even leaves her mouth. "Agni Kai!"

"You're on."

Katara turns to face him, grabbing onto his arm and gently pulling him down so she can question softly, "What are you doing? She's playing you! She knows she can't take us both, so she's trying to separate us."

"I know," he says, "but I can take her this time."

"But even you admitted to your uncle that you would need help facing Azula."

"There's something off about her," he says, glancing back towards his sister for a moment, to watch her twitch and grin. "I can't explain it, but she's slipping. And this way, no one else has to get hurt." But then, a pause. "But if anything happens, you have my back, right?"

"Always."

He nods once, and she lets him go as he walks over to his side of the courtyard, turning around to face his sister. Unlike his last, true Agni Kai, there is no audience. There is no one to watch him but the Sages and Katara. There is no one to laugh or to cry for either of them.

There is the darkness and the light that the comet brings, and the gentle lull of an abandoned city.

"I'm sorry it has to end this way, brother. "

"No you're not."

When Azula smiles in reply her stance is awkward and uncoordinated. Her movements are jerky and unpredictable. With a sudden spin, she sends a blast of blue fire towards him, but he brings his hands up and around, bending the fire around his palms and sending it away, before punching out a strong blast of his own. He never anticipated the power the comet would bring him to be this strong, this freeing.

It's like he is fire himself, and he remembers the movements of the dragon from the lost city, remembers the colors, the teachings, and the forgiveness.

* * *

Aang's entire fighting sequence consists of him evading and ducking, with a small attack thrown in somewhere. Ka can do nothing but follow, doing her best to deflect every fire blast that comes in her Avatar's way with air.

Ozai's fire blasts are so powerful they knock away remaining pillars around them. Ka leaps away from a toppling tower of boulders and spins in the air, clenching her fists and punching them outwards to bend three of them in his direction. The Fire Lord extends both his feet and kicks through two of them with a blast from his feet, the third being pushed away by a simple sway of his hand.

Aang leaps onto one of the pillars and quickly rotates his arms, bringing up water from down below to extinguish one of the blasts being headed this way. It gets them the closest thus far—Ozai jumps back for just a moment, but then gives an angry growl and soars up towards them, the blast he delivers being larger than anything else before.

The two of them jump away, down onto the ground, and when Ka lands on a boulder she lifts it into the air to attack, but when the attempt only distracts him for a moment, Aang grabs onto her and jumps away. The boulder falls directly beside the Fire Lord, and he continues on chasing them, shooting at them with his fiery fists and fiery eyes. Aang and Ka glance at each other once before simultaneously swinging themselves into tornadoes of air, swirling the oncoming flames around them rather than towards them.

They land on another rock pillar and scoot to the side, only to see another fireball heading straight for them. They leap to another pillar to avoid it before airbending back to the first one, kicking off the top and earthbending it right in his direction—

—except there is no Fire Lord there anymore, and Ozai is right behind them.

As soon as they turn there is fire surrounding them, and they both lift their arms to shield themselves from the surprise attack. The impact has them falling backwards and slamming against the side of a rock, falling to the ground in pain. Ka can feel the burns on her entire body, and grimaces, clenching her fists.

Ozai lands on the same ledge as them, and when she sees him approach, she jumps to her feet and earthbends an armor of rocks around herself. The Fire Lord shoots fists of fire at her, pushing her around the edge of where they stand, leaping to the side to avoid every rock she fires at him.

Aang suddenly follows her lead, going underneath the ledge to swing around behind the Fire Lord, and Ka jumps into the air, leaving her rock armor behind to crumble, as soon as Aang kicks his feet around and sweeps Ozai off his feet with a blast of air. He slips and falls, then lets out an angry roar of flames from his mouth. Flipping back into a fighting position, Ka lands on the other side of him, leaving the Fire Lord to glance from front to back for a moment. She lifts her arms to raise water from the surface and then crosses them together in a slice, swirling them around the Fire Lord and trapping him in ice. He quickly heats it up and breaks free, but Aang's attack is much quicker than him.

With the Avatar behind him and the Minder in front of him, the Fire Lord's movements become more erratic and angry, and much easier to control. He whirls around in an attempt to fight both of them at the same time, but their simultaneous and coordinated attacks are too much for him to break off. When he has finally had enough, he just brings his hands to his stomach and produces _lightning,_ shoving them both off to the side and Ka nearly off the edge.

She looks up in fear, and the wound on her back clenches in pain. The Fire Lord looks between the two of them, as if deciding who to direct his blast at, but ultimately he chooses who he deems more important—the Avatar. Ka is not fast enough, nor is the shriek of her Avatar's name enough to stop time. Aang leaps up, to the side, and away, but rolls forward in a stumble and soon the lightning is too close to evade.

So, to her amazement, he takes a deep breath and mimics his teachings, sliding a foot forward and taking the full force of the blast with his fingertips, redirecting it through his body. Ka can feel the utter strength and energy from where she stands, and it is so much that she shudders and nearly falls to the ground. Aang points it towards Ozai, but upon seeing the Fire Lord's face, he stops, freezes in place, and closes his eyes as he sends the bolt up into the golden sky.

The strength of it causes him to fall to the ground, his arms shaking in exhaustion. Ozai smiles, gleefully, and sends a spinning kick of fire in his direction. Ka leaps off the ledge she stands on and waterbends to extinguish the blast, but another bolt of fire only causes them to both be sent away by the impact, rushing towards the water before.

Aang tilts himself up, finally fully awake, and frantically waves him arms to waterbend a funnel shape to land into softly. After a moment of gasping and washing away the shock from the sudden cold, they wash up onto shore, and stand to see the Fire Lord rocketing towards them, with all the joy in the world.

* * *

Zuko feels as if his world is almost in slow motion as he and his sister's flames blast towards each other, blending into one another into beautiful but terrifying colors. She does not hold back, so neither does he, and the strength of their embers ignites the buildings around them into orange.

But soon, Azula's fire starts to push him backwards, and he turns his foot around to steady himself, and punches a powerful blast from his fist.

Suddenly, the attacks stop, and Azula turns to see that his attack has caused the plaza to be smothered in flames, burning into ash by the minute. She quickly whirls around, leaping forward with a blast of fire that swings at him. Just as he is about to be burnt, he thrusts his palms outwards to create a wall of flames that slices her fire in half around him. The flames die down, and Azula crouches on the ground, panting heavily and sweating. As she grits her teeth, she trembles, and narrows her eyes.

(This is not the same face that stayed up all night when they were children. This is not the same face that played with him with nobody else would. This is not the same face that he looked upon when he was merely a baby himself, into the strong amber-gold eyes, a hope for the nation.

 _This is his sister,_ he reminds himself. And yet it isn't.)

With only the slightest trepidation, he opens his left fist, and with the other, punches two large fireballs in her direction, the two blasts merging into one. Azula jets into the air with blue fire to avoid it, letting the flames fizzle out behind her, and flies forward with fire from her feet and hands. Her fists thrust forward to shoot out two blasts, and swerves to the right to avoid another blast from him. She circles around him, and he creates a shield of fire around himself for protection.

She is too fast. So, he pauses, lets her move a little farther back, and begins to spin and kick immense flames from his feet. She's flying forward, too eagerly, too quickly, and she cannot stop herself in time to avoid the attacks. She falls and rolls onto the ground, halting for a moment before gritting her teeth and picking herself up. She is hunched over, hair undone, face twisted in a crimson anger.

He decides to fuel it. "No lightning today?" he mocks. "What's the matter? Afraid I'll _redirect_ it?"

"Oh," Azula screams, "I'll show you _lightning!_ "

She waves and moves her fingertips around her body to generate it, but her stance is irregular and the lightning almost seems like it flickers on and off. Zuko takes a deep breath, assuming his redirecting stance and tightening his body up. But then he sees her finish charging, and her gaze flicker from him to the left of him. He turns, seeing Katara there, watching, and realizes with a sudden horror what his sister plans to do.

So when his sister grins and shoots the blast at Katara, he leaps in between them and outstretches his hands in a makeshift attempt to redirect it. " _No!_ " The blast comes at him, and the pain, the burn, is intense and he can feel so much power inside him and all around him. With what little he can feel, he redirects what his body hasn't absorbed yet and shoots it right at his sister. She screams at the impact but he does not watch her fall, and instead shudders at the electricity seeping around his body, and falls to the ground.

"Zuko!" Katara gasps, rushing to his side and lifting his head up with her palm.

She runs her hand down the wound in his chest, glancing over quickly to the fallen Azula before producing water from her pouch and encircling it around his wound, the water glowing like he had seen before—like he had seen her and Ka do to his uncle. The pain washes away for a moment but there is still an odd feeling there, the lightning still locked inside his energy, and Katara curses when her healing isn't enough to take that out.

There is no time to try again, for Azula rises to her feet and laughs maniacally, though her clothes are singed and there are burns across her body. Katara pulls Zuko into the corner to keep him safe, and then takes her turn in front of her, bending the rest of the water from her pouch in front of her like a shield.

After a pause, Azula grins, and pounces.

* * *

The feeling of heat and the feeling of fear washes over her as Ozai approaches, the two of them still on the ground, sopping wet from their fall. They waterbend themselves away just for a moment, to avoid a fire blast, but when they are slammed against another pillar, Aang quickly earthbends a circle of rocks around the two of them in a makeshift form of protection. His eyes are squeezed shut and he braces himself with his arms, shaking.

In an attempt to alleviate his efforts, Ka raises her arms and presses her hands against the sphere, fortifying it. Their hands touch underneath the rock, and she can feel his fear. Her own fear.

Ozai laughs from outside, the sound coming from right over them. "You're weak, just like the rest of your people! They did not deserve to exist in this world... in my world! Prepare to join them. Prepare to die! "

There is only a momentary pause before a sudden fire blast engulfs the entire sphere. Ka and Aang grit their teeth, pebbles falling all around them and orange light seeping in through the cracks.

The sound of a step, jumping backwards, and then two more blasts.

"Come on out, Avatar! You and your little pet can't hide in there forever!"

 _Pet. Pet. Pet._ She clenches her fists in anger, shaking, the fire inside her growing stronger than the flamethrower blast attacking their sphere. What she wouldn't give to break free and grab him by the beard and attack him into kingdom come.

(She has never been seen as anything but inferior. And unless they win... she never will. Future Minders never will.)

Fear, fear, and _more_ fear. She and Aang's grips on their earth shield only get tighter as the blasts get stronger. The heat is so intense, so powerful, and it's hot, hot, _hot._ She knows they cannot stay like this forever, that they will either perish like this or they must come out and fight, but neither of them can move from where they are, can lower their arms or open their eyes.

With the next blast their shield crumbles even more, and it's only a matter of time, a matter of power, until they're burnt to shreds. A break in blasts, just for a moment, then the strongest attack yet, crushing their entire shield into pieces and washing over them. Aang airbends a sphere around the two of them but the force of the attack pushes them back. They crash into a rock pillar, Ka landing on top of Aang, and the scar in his back is suddenly impaled with a point of the rock, and the two of them bolt upright.

First, there is pain. Then light. Then remembrance. They see themselves being struck down by the force of lightning, then Vaatu's anger washing through Ka in retaliation. They see Roku, Divya, Ino, Kyoshi, Kazuki, and the rest of the long line of Avatars and Minders in history. Their eyes glow. They see themselves in every instance they had both fused together and they had both entered their shared state.

Then, two paths. Each of them meditating, glowing. They walk forth.

"—come on out, little boy. You're about to be—"

Then they jump out, conjoined, _jiéhé,_ with glowing eyes and swirling tattoos, and they shut the Fire Lord right up with a grip of his beard. With his wide eyes, he makes an attempt at firebending at their face, but they merely knock his hand away with a smack, the flames billowing out above them and into the sky. Waving their hands around their head and then outwards, they shoot out a blast of air, sending him flying backwards, and he is forced away into a pillar of rock, stumbling into the ground from the impact and groaning.

Pure rage encircles them in the form of a sphere of air as they hover in the air above him, and with an angry roar they mimic him, though stronger, with five blasts of orange embers protruding from their mouth, hands, and feet. Their hair flies around wildly as the wind picks up, pushing the Fire Lord backwards farther and farther until he cannot stand and he is helpless to do anything but watch.

All at once, the flames from their roar, the rocks from the pillars, the water from the ocean, and the dust from the ground below them all pick up and kick up around them until every element encircles them in a ring around the sphere of air. The balls of earth simply get smaller by the clenching of their fists.

The Fire Lord watches in horror as the _jiéhé_ of the Avatar and the Minder stare down at him, with all four elements circling them as if they would bow down to them, with the force of a thousand before them.

With an anger ten times as strong.

* * *

In Ba Sing Se, when the army is good and gone, General Iroh lifts his fingertips and burns the insignia of his own nation right off the palace walls.

* * *

They rush downwards, crash right into the Fire Lord, make him look them right in their mismatched eyes as they blow him right off their elemental sphere.

He flies away from them, frantic, desperate to avoid their attacks as they clench their fists once more and use earthbending to shoot bullets of tiny pebbles from their circle of earth in his direction.

They chase him, and the roles are reversed.

* * *

It's lightning bolt after lightning bolt. With his limited vision, he can see Katara duck and dodge uneven blasts of lightning from his sister. He attempts to get up, but a spike of pain washes through him, and he falls back down, clenching his hands against the fabric of his tunic. Ugh.

"I'd really rather our family physician look after Little Zuzu if you don't mind!" Azula calls from the roof of a flaming building, and Zuko watches her fire another blast before Katara rushes and hides behind a nearly column. "Zuzu, you don't look so good!"

His vision is so shaky that he wonders if he can believe what he sees. Katara waterbends onto the roof where Azula is, but she is gone when she fires, and Azula comes up behind her on jets of fire and Katara is forced to flee. She uses the nearby water channel to form ice, sliding on it up and away from Azula as she approaches. His sister melts the ice with an angry burst of flames, vaporizing it completely. She unleashes a large burst of fire, and when Katara starts to run away, she trips on a grate and looks down into it below.

 _Water,_ Zuko realizes, and tries to sit up to watch a little more clearly.

Katara runs off to the side to grab chains hanging off the wall. That is when Azula approaches, looking angry, her fingers sparking with electricity.

"There you are, filthy peasant!"

There is a brief stare down, and then Katara lifts water from the grate to goad Azula onto it with her. Just as Azula sparks up lightning and is about to shoot it at her, Katara jumps in the air and lifts her arms with a quick, swift motion, bringing the water up from the grate and freezing the two inside it. They are both frozen, stuck, and Azula manages to glance side to side in horror. Closing her eyes, Katara exhales through her nose and melts the water around her, allowing her to move across inside the block of ice and chain Azula's hands together behind her back, tying it to the grate and pulling. Then, with a rush, she bends the water back into the grate and catches her breath before tightening the chains more firmly.

With one last glance, she rushes over towards Zuko and kneels down beside him. "Zuko!" she gasps. "Are you okay?"

With her help, he manages to rise to his feet, and she puts her hands on his shoulders to steady him. "I redirected half of the blast, I think... but half of it is still in me."

"Then what do we do?"

He can't answer her question, not only because he doesn't know, but because from the grate, Azula pants and screams in anger and madness, breathing fire from her mouth. She writhes and rolls all over the ground and the grate in an attempt to break free, her chains digging into her skin, but eventually she just hunches over and starts sobbing uncontrollably, hiccuping, screaming unintelligible curses and pleas.

"Don't worry about me for now," he eventually says, memories of his childhood replaying in his head. "We need to get her help."

She looks as if she wants to protest, but Katara just nods.

* * *

They lift two pillars, stopping the Fire Lord in his tracks. He recoils, flying off into the air, but they retaliate by bending a tsunami of water at him, sending him crashing into the ground and dust flying from the impact.

After a moment, he looks up at them, and they burst through the pillar he had landed beside. He retreats to avoid the falling remains of the rocks and shoots a stream of fire at them. They drop to the ground, just narrowly missing Ozai when he propels himself away with a launch of fire from his feet. They rise once more, following the fleeing Fire Lord, impaling more and more fear into him as they only get closer and closer and stronger and stronger.

The Fire Lord lands on the top of another pillar, and launches a wide fire blast. They use earthbending to break two other pillars from the ground, slamming them together to protect themselves from the attack. They let the pillars fall, and take aim, firing bolt after bolt of fire at Ozai. He lands on the side of a rock and launches three more blasts, but they only use air and water simultaneously to destroy them in mid air. With another fire blast they disintegrate the pillar he stands on, but he jumps off back into the air.

With a glance backwards, he blanches when he realizes just how close they are getting. They swirl their arms in a circular motion, swirling a whip of water around Ozai's leg and up to his arm, clenching their fists to close it around his body, whipping him around in the air and then slamming him on the top of a pillar. Before he can even think about getting up, they earthbend his hands and feet to the ground, trapping him, and hovering over him as he watches them in fear.

" _Fire Lord Ozai, you and your forefathers have devastated the balance of this world, and now you shall pay the ultimate price._ "

With a wave of his hand, he combines all four elements into one swirling stream, sending it downwards in a spiral until it goes faster and _faster—_ but just before it hits Ozai's chest the lights stop, the attack stops, and the rocks and water fall on top of him harmlessly as a burst of power separates Ka and Aang, both of them landing on different sides of the Fire Lord. The earth restraints on him fall away.

"No," they say softly, "we will not end it like this."

Ozai grimaces. "Even with all the power in the world, you are still _weak!_ "

He jumps up to attack, but they can see his every move in their head, anticipating it, sensing it. Aang stamps down and lifts his foot up, dragging a pillar of earth along with the movement, deflecting the Fire Lord's attack just as he does it, binding his fist inside the rock. On the other side, Ka lifts her arm and encases Ozai's other hand when he goes to attack her. The two of them pull the rocks down, forcing him to kneel and face them, and inhales one final fire breath attack—Aang airbends at his face to halt him and puts his thumb on his forehead, and the other on his chest. From behind, Ka lets her hand fall on top of Aang's on his forehead, and her other hand on the back of the Fire Lord's neck.

" _In the era before the Avatar and the Minder, we bent not the elements, but the energy within ourselves._ "

Their heads arch backwards—one of Aang's eyes shine blue while the other orange, a split half-and-half, along with Ka's. After a moment, Fire Lord Ozai's face shines out a blood red energy. All three of their bodies eventually become engulfed in colors, the ground shaking and trembling around them, the Avatar's and Minder's bodies being split down the middle on either side with blue and orange.

" _To bend another's energy, your own spirit must be unbendable, or you will be corrupted and destroyed._ "

The red of Ozai's energy begins to cover both of their bodies, consuming the beautiful blue and orange and turning the sky an ugly red. The energy reaches their arms, torsos, legs, and their face, and begins to take control, corrupt, destroy. But just before the red overtakes completely, just before their blue is gone, it blasts out of their eyes, overwhelming the red and taking over the Fire Lord's body in an instant, and intense beam of swirling blue and orange erupting into the sky.

After a moment, it disappears, and Ozai falls to the ground when they release him. With a stumble, Aang and Ka manage to get back to their feet, and stand beside one another as they watch the Fire Lord stumble to rise and attack, but falls backwards with not so much as a spark.

"What?" he breathes, heaving. "What... did you do to me?"

"We took away your firebending," says the Avatar and the Minder. "You can't use it to hurt or threaten anyone else ever again."

With that, they turn towards the sea and watch the fire spread on the land below. With a deep breath, they close their eyes, entering their shared state for a moment, then simultaneously turn and lift their arms to bend the water from the ocean into the land and onto the trees, extinguishing the flames.

Then, the water falls, and Momo's chirp echoes in the distance.

* * *

When their friends see the beam of light rush into the air they know they have won the day.

So as the comet rushes by, back into the distance, the airship their friends had hijacked lands beside the pillar they stand on, and they all come rushing out excitedly.

"You did it!" Sokka shouts, being carried by the others, a makeshift cast around his leg. "You should've seen yourself, it was amazing! You guys are all like—" the sounds he makes to try and mimic their fighting are laughable—"and the Fire Lord was all like—" he then groans, pretending to be choking and dying.

Suki walks over and points to the fallen Ozai, leaning over him. "So, did you... y'know... finish the job?"

The Fire Lord slowly opens his eyes, then slowly, but defiantly, says, "I'm still _alive._ "

"We learned there was an alternate way to defeat him and restore balance," Ka explains.

Aang looks at her once, and then back towards his friends. "We took his bending away."

"Wow!" Toph exclaims in shock. "Who taught you _that?_ "

"A giant lion turtle," they reply in unison.

Toph laughs and crosses her arms over her chest, shaking her head and grinning. "You two have the craziest adventures when you disappear."

Suddenly filled with confidence, Sokka hobbles over towards Ozai and leans over him, "Well, look at you, buster. Now that your firebending's gone I guess we should call you the _Loser Lord!_ "

"I am... the Phoenix King!"

"Oh, sorry, " Toph says sarcastically, as Ozai flops back on the ground, semi-conscious and drooling from the side of his mouth. "Didn't mean to offend you, Phoenix King-of-getting-his _-butt_ -whooped!"

"Yeah!" Suki tries, raising her fist in the air. "Or how about King of the... guys-who... don't-win?"

A pause. "Leave the nicknames to us, honey."

* * *

The elation from their victory quickly dies away when they reach the Fire Nation palace that night, only to be told by Katara that Zuko is in bad shape.

She takes them to the room he rests in, and Ka watches in horror as he trembles and shakes and sparks of electricity race through his body.

"Zuko," she gasps breathlessly, and walks over to his side in disbelief. "What happened to him?"

"Azula," Katara replies solemnly. "She tried to strike me with lightning, but Zuko jumped between us. He managed to redirect some of it, but most of it was absorbed into his body."

Struck by lightning. Ka shudders. "Where is Azula now?"

"Being taken care of by palace workers," Katara replies. "Zuko insisted we take care of her before him."

Ka frowns. "Idiot," she mutters, and kneels down beside Zuko's side, running her hand across his forehead. The sudden sparks that meet her touch cause her to withdraw in shock, but she puts it back down a moment later.

"My healing won't work," Katara says, her voice beginning to get more frantic. "I'm afraid that if we can't figure this out soon, he'll... he'll..."

"No," Ka says firmly. " _No._ He will be fine. Has General Iroh returned?"

"He's still in Ba Sing Se with the other members of the White Lotus," Sokka replies, folding his arms and leaning against the doorway of the room, looking down at his friend in worry. "It would take him too long to get here in time, anyway."

Aang comes up beside Ka and kneels down beside her, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We'll figure it out, Ka. Don't worry."

But her eyes are trained on the way Zuko's breathing has begun to get more shallow, more weak. How his face has begun to grow paler and paler, and how he shivers with each flow of lightning inside his body. Trapped in his chi.

Ka takes her hand away from his forehead and looks down at her palms. Even when she does not touch him anymore, she can still feel the weak flow of his energy, can read it. Like it flows underneath her.

Like something spiritual.

It is then that Ka remembers that even though she resides in the physical world now, she retains qualities from her being a spirit. Her tendency to disappear into the background, to become invisible to human eyes. Her knowledge of the world and its surroundings. Her pure spiritual energy and all the abilities it comes with.

(" _You are my child,_ " her father had said. " _I created you. Do you know out of what? Of course you know. Nothing you are made of has ever been yours._ ")

Her face is not her own. Her identity is not her own. But this, her _power,_ the spirit she was _born_ with, that is her own.

That is _Ka._

So with a deep breath, she extends her hands and presses them against the center of Zuko's stomach, right next to his wound. Closing her eyes, she focuses. On Roku's and Divya's teachings, on the past lives of everyone that has ever been connected to her, on her pure energy, and the energy of the man laying in front of her.

When she reaches deep, deep down, she can feel their spiritual connection, what led them to see one another at seemingly random moments. It is so deep and tangled with so many emotions that she has to bite her lip and force it away. When she reaches his chi, the lightning trapped inside it makes her wince in pain from the force and shock of it. But with a steady hand, she realizes just _what_ her father has passed down to her.

Her grandmother has the ability to gift new faces. Her father has the ability to steal them away.

She has the ability to both give and take, so with all the devotion in the world, she takes away the foreign energy circling in his chi and gifts him some of hers. The process is painful, and she grits her teeth to keep from screaming, but eventually the energy is out, and she takes away her hands, slamming them against the wooden floor below her and sparking the lightning out from there.

She pants heavily, sweating from head to toe, and her friends quickly rush over to her, helping her to her feet and checking her to make sure she is alright.

"What did you just _do?_ " Katara asks, her eyes wide in confusion.

"She took away that energy," Aang explains in amazement, shaking from the transference of Ka's emotions to his own body, "and replaced it with her own."

There is a pause. Then, in an amazed whisper, Sokka goes, " _Spirit magic._ "

A groan, then Zuko is shifting upright on the bed, holding onto where his wound is wrapped up. He blinks a few times, wearily, and then looks to the side to see the group hovering over him, all holding onto a tired-looking Ka.

He is quiet for a moment, pressing his lips together. Then, "Did we win?"

Ka lets out a relieved, yet annoyed, sigh, and throws herself on top of him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him close. "Why would you throw yourself in front of a lightning strike? "

"I had to save Katara," is Zuko's reply, as if it were one of the easiest sentences he has ever said. And it most likely is.

"I know," Ka chokes up, "but never do it again."

She feels him smile against her hair, and he wraps his arms around her back to embrace her tightly. "I promise."

"You're lucky you have a spirit as your girlfriend, buddy," Toph scoffs, putting her hands on her hips. "Saved your life!"

Zuko leans back, prompting Ka to do the same. "You saved me?"

Ka hesitates. "Giving and taking runs in the family," she simply says. "You have some of my energy within you now."

When he hears that, he looks down at his wound and slowly puts a hand over it in amazement. "You... really did that for me?"

Instead of saying anything to that, Ka just slowly goes back to hugging him, putting one hand on the back of his head and burying her face in his neck.

And after a quiet moment, she whispers, "I forgive you."

Zuko tenses up, and it is at that moment when the rest of the group rushes in for an eager group hug, all of them clambering on the bed and nearly toppling Zuko over with the weight. He groans, but laughs, and struggles to accommodate all of them.

With the weight of all her friends on her, Ka lets herself smile back.

* * *

When the sun rises the people gather in the courtyard, and his wound burns with every movement he takes as he tries to put his robes on for himself, all of the previous servants having been banished away.

He manages to get on his pants and one sleeve of the robe, but when he starts to reach his arm into the second sleeve, it sends a sudden wave of pain up his body, and he gasps sharply. Even with the lightning gone from his body, the impact of it still remains.

"You need some help with that?"

The familiar voice has him jolting again, and he turns to see Mai, standing in the doorway with a kind smile.

"Mai!" he exclaims, eyes widening. "You're okay! They... they let you out of prison?"

"My uncle pulled some strings," she replies vaguely, and walks up to him. "Here. Careful with your arm."

With slow movements, Mai holds onto the other sleeve and guides his arm into it as slowly as she can manage. When she takes the ties of the robe and looks down to lace them up, Zuko is suddenly filled with extreme guilt.

"I'm sorry," he says, exhaling slowly. "For—for everything. Leaving you, and... leading you on." His face reddens as he looks down at her with a frown.

Mai just finishes tightening up the knots, and then looks up into his eyes. "I know you are," she says softly, "and it's alright. All I ever wanted was to make you happy, and I'm the one that's sorry that I wasn't enough."

"Mai—"

"There's a light in your eyes I haven't seen since we were kids whenever you look at her," Mai breaks in. "If she makes you happy, then I have nothing to be upset about."

"Of course you do."

Her smile saddens a little. "I know," she admits softly, and then walks over to get the rest of his Fire Lord clothing. "So, the Fire Lord and the _Minder,_ huh?"

"Don't you start."

* * *

She meditates beside her Avatar when she hears footsteps approach, and slowly opens her eyes to see Zuko standing there, dressed head to toe in the garb of an official Fire Lord.

She smiles, and rises to her feet, smoothing down her own fancy clothing. She is dressed in the traditional Water Tribe dress, with touches here and there and a symbol around her neck to recognize her status as both the Minder and a spirit.

Beside her, Aang follows her lead. He is dressed like the airbending master he truly is.

"I can't believe a year ago my purpose in life was hunting you down," Zuko reminisces, glancing once at the curtains that lead out onto the balcony. "And now..."

"And now we're friends," Aang finishes, and Ka thinks back to when he had been the Blue Spirit, when he had been resting against the tree, listening just for a moment to their stories.

( _If we had known each other back then, do you think we would've been friends, too?_ )

"Yeah," Zuko agrees, almost in disbelief, "we are friends."

"I can't believe a year ago I was still frozen in a block of ice," Aang says.

"And I in the Spirit World," Ka adds.

"The world's so different now," Aang finishes.

Zuko puts a hand on Aang's shoulder. "And it's gonna be even more different. We'll rebuild it together."

He hugs Aang warmly before turning and walking over to embrace Ka. She hugs him back, kissing his jaw softly before he pulls away. They all walk through the curtains, and she feels a mild sense of dread of how the people may respond to her, but with the very people closest to her beside her, it quickly goes away.

A gong is struck as Zuko walks past, and as he approaches the crowd over the balcony, the people below cheer for him.

But then he puts up a hand, silencing them. "Please. The real heroes are the Avatar and the Minder."

He steps to the side, and Aang and Ka step forward, the roaring of the crowd even louder and even more supportive and excited. She feels a rush go through her, and turns her head to smile at her Avatar.

Zuko then steps back up against, beside the two of them. "Today this war is finally over!" More cheers, more clapping and whistling. "I promised my uncle that I would restore the honor of the Fire Nation, and I will. The road ahead of us is challenging. A hundred years of fighting has left the world scarred and divided."

Then, Zuko turns, and smiles at the both of them with a warmth Ka thought she would have never seen.

"But with the Avatar and the Minder's help, we can get it back on the right path, and begin a new era of love and peace."

He then kneels down, and a Fire Sage walks up behind him, holding up a headpiece above his head. In a slow, careful descend, the official headpiece is placed into Zuko's top knot, and with a declaration of _All hail Fire Lord Zuko!_ the crowd cheers and claps and jumps in the air and rejoices.

Zuko rises to his feet, and Ka reaches over to grab his hand, and squeeze it.

(Oh, if her father could see her now.)

* * *

His father looks pitiful and weak as he sits in his cell, his hands chained to the wall.

"I should count myself lucky," he says sarcastically when he sees Zuko approach. "The new Fire Lord has graced me with his presence in my lowly prison cell."

"You should count yourself lucky that the Avatar and the Minder spared your life."

"Hmph."

"Banishing me was the best thing you could have done for my life," Zuko says, and it's the truth, despite all the pain and suffering. "It put me on the right path. Perhaps your time in here could do the same for you."

His father narrows his eyes at him. "Why are you _really_ here?"

"Because you're going to tell me something." He bends down closer, and in a slow, grave voice, asks, "Where is my mother?"

* * *

Ka watches the children play outside the Jasmine Dragon with a tiny smile on her face, reveling in their joy and their newfound freedom. She is suddenly turned away from the window by a hand on her arm, and a small teacup being placed into her hand.

Zuko wraps his hands around hers, and she hides her flustered smile behind her teacup as she lifts it to take a sip. She follows him towards the group when he begins giving out tea to the others, then—

"Zuko, stop moving!" Sokka suddenly shouts, looking very offended, and then gestures down to his painting. "I'm trying to capture the moment!" Softer, he moves his brush across the paper, and says, "I wanted to do a painting, so we always remember the good times together."

Katara smiles as she walks up. "That's very thoughtful of you, Sokka." She leans over to take a look, but then frowns abruptly in annoyance, propping one hand up on the table and pointing to the painting. "Wait, _why_ did you give me Momo's ears?"

"Those are your hair-loopies!"

Ka and Zuko walk up to inspect the damage. Zuko scoffs, "At least you don't look like a boar-qupine! My hair is not that spiky!"

Ka squints at the paper. "Am I _flying?_ "

"I look like a man," Mai deadpans.

"And why did you paint me _firebending?_ " Suki questions.

"I thought it looked more exciting that way," Sokka replies, shrugging. Momo jumps onto the table and chitters his opinion. "Oh, _you_ think you can do a better job, Momo?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Ka sees Aang walk outside.

"Hey, my belly's not that big anymore," Iroh protests, pointing at himself on the painting. "I've really trimmed down."

Toph throws her arms in the air with a grin. "Well, I think you all look perfect!"

Katara walks out to follow Aang, and from the sudden burst of emotion she feels, she has a vague idea of what might be happening. Sighing in embarrassment, she pointedly walks away from that side of the room and goes out the front door, watching the sunset and hearing the calls of mothers towards the children playing in front of the tea shop— _it's time to come home now!_

She hears the door open and shut behind her, and turns her head to see Zuko standing there, his eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"Are you alright?" he asks.

Ka nods at him. "Just fine," she replies, and then looks up at the sky. "Just thinking."

"About what?"

He scoots closer to her, and she looks down when he reaches over to grab her hand, stroking his thumb over her knuckles.

"About who I used to be," she admits, "and how far we have all come." When he remains silent, she goes on, "I had grown up silent, emotionless, my face frozen. All I knew was that I was the Minder. All I knew how to do was just... fade into the background."

"But now everyone knows your name, and your face," Zuko says.

She smiles for a moment, but it quickly falls. "This is not my face. It does not belong to me."

"It _does,_ " Zuko urges, squeezing her hand, "because it's you. And even if you'd look any different, I would still love you all the same."

"Even if I looked like my father?" she half-jokes.

Zuko pauses. "It's what's inside that counts."

That makes her laugh, and she covers her mouth with her free hand to hide her snort. "You are ridiculous."

"It's my best quality," Zuko goes on, and then looks up at the setting sky. "C'mon. Let's go up."

"Up?" Ka questions, when Zuko leaps onto the windowsill and starts to climb up on the roof. "Up where?"

"To the roof."

He reaches out his hand for her to take, but she only smirks at him and spins to propel herself upwards with a blast of air, landing gracefully on the roof. He gives her a lighthearted glare when she makes it up there before him, but it quickly turns into a smile and he walks over to wrap his arms around her waist and pull her close.

"Our first kiss was on a rooftop," Zuko reminds her.

"Oh, was it?" Ka hums. "After all those intrusive questions about my past?"

"Ah, I—"

She puts a hand over his mouth. "I was joking. I still consider it to be one of the best nights of my life thus far."

He stares at her with wide eyes. "Really?"

"Yes," Ka replies seriously. "You were the first person I have ever danced with. I had never had so much fun before." She runs her fingers along his arm, and smiles. "It meant a lot to me."

Zuko is quiet for a moment, and then he groans, tipping his head forward. " _Ugh,_ I want to go back in time and punch my past self."

She laughs again, the sound coming to her more naturally lately. She puts one hand on each side of his face and tilts his head up. "No, no, don't hurt him, that's my job!"

"You did get me pretty good."

"Well, I am not the Minder for nothing, no?"

A moment of silence passes between the two of them, as the sun fully sets and they are engulfed in the light of the moon. It is so bright tonight that the light bounces off Ka's hair. As she stares into Zuko's eyes, and leans in to kiss him, she thinks, _this_ is what was meant for her.

This must be what destiny feels like.

(And she wants nothing more than to go back in time, to tell the little spirit who had cried in fear after touching the strange orange orb, that everything will be alright.)

That she will not be invisible forever.)

* * *

 **epilogue coming soon.**


	25. epilogue

Scurrying their bare feet across the smooth tiles, a two young girls giggle at one another as they escape the wrath of the cook chasing them, his face covered in whatever food he had been preparing before the two menaces known as the Fire Nation princesses came in and ruined it all.

Their giggling is cut short when they suddenly bump into a tall figure, and they both fall backwards. The cook, panting, leaning over and holding his knees, stomps up and angrily points his spoon down at them.

"I would expect better behavior from future heirs to the throne," he spits.

Fire Lord Zuko frowns, and leans down to scoop his daughters up into his arms. "They're _children,_ Osamu," he snorts. "At least give them some more time to be free before they truly take up that responsibility."

The cook just huffs, crosses his arms, and stomps away. The girls muffle their laughter into their father's cloak. With a half-hidden smirk, he walks into the throne room, his eldest daughter almost slipping out of his grip with how big and squirmy she is.

"Father," she asks curiously, blinking up with her wide, amber eyes, "where's Mom?"

"In the Spirit World, remember?" he replies, taking a seat on the throne and letting his children cuddle up to him. "She and Aang have some important duties."

"Oh, yeah," snorts the younger one, a smaller girl around the age of seven. "Mama and Uncle Aang are the coolest in the world!"

"Cooler than me?" Fire Lord Zuko asks jokingly.

"Yeah," replies the younger.

He just rolls his eyes. "Your mother will be back soon, Izumi," he continues onto his eldest. "Just be patient."

Izumi pouts. "But she's gone all the time..."

"When you're older, you'll understand just exactly why."

"Mama is out doing good-guy stuff," explains the younger, nodding as she says so, very confident in her declaration.

Fire Lord Zuko laughs, ruffles his youngest's white hair, and tugs the two of them closer. "We're all trying to do good-guy stuff, Yuzuki. Sometimes it just takes time."

* * *

Minder Ka sits next to her husband by the pond, idly watching her children eagerly firebend at one another.

"Y'know," Zuko speaks up, and she turns to look at him, "the girls have been talking about wanting a younger brother."

When he gives her a look, Ka just turns her head away with a scoff. "Absolutely not. We're both too busy with trying to build a republic for that."

"Well, I know, but—"

"Both the Spirit World and the physical world are in alternate forms of chaos," Ka interrupts, dipping her finger into the water and letting the turtle-ducks swim towards the ripples it makes. "Until that is fixed, I am not bringing another child into that."

"They would be safe here," Zuko tries. "In the Fire Nation."

Ka frowns, and looks back towards her daughters. Their fire and their movements have a certain something to them that all other children do not. "Our children are spirits, Zuko," she goes on. "Half, maybe, but spirits nonetheless. They are in danger no matter what."

Her husband blinks, wide-eyed. "You—you mean..."

"Yes," is all she says. "I can sense their abilities. I am not sure of the... extent, however."

As if on cue, their oldest, Izumi, tries to thrust out her hands to send another fire blast but ends up rolling forward, her body going transparent as she phases through her sister, coming out of the other side of her and becoming solid again. The two sisters look at each other with wide eyes, and Zuko abruptly stands up in shock, his jaw dropping.

Ka just gives a tired smile. "It comes from my side of the family."

* * *

"What will happen when you die?"

It's a morbid question, one not to be asked as they lay in bed together, the moonlight and cold of the wind seeping through the windows.

Ka turns to look at him, and finds him staring up at the ceiling, his expression blank.

"You're a spirit turned human," Zuko says, "but when you have to go back... what happens?"

Ka purses her lips. "I cannot say," she replies, and Zuko squeezes his eyes shut beside her. "I could not confirm anything, but... I would theorize my physical body would cease to exist, but my spirit... it would live on, as both myself, and the next Minder." She is quiet for a moment. "Why did you ask that?"

"Because I've been thinking about what you being the Minder really means lately," he confesses. "The dangers, the duties, and what's inevitable."

Ka reaches out and takes his hand. "Even when I'm gone I will still be with you."

"I know," he replies, choked up. "I know."

* * *

In the end, her Avatar dies young. He does not make it to the rite of an old man, physically, at least.

The hundred years spent in an iceberg, constantly in the shared state, drained much of his life energy, and by the later years of their mission, it very obviously began to weigh on his body. He could not bend as easily, could not move as easily. Going into their shared state or even fusing became painful for the both of them.

His final declaration was to task the Order of the White Lotus to search for and watch over both the next Avatar and Minder.

And at one hundred and sixty-six years, the Avatar who saved the world died.

At his deathbed, Ka felt his soul leave her body, and she sobbed for him, cried into the sheets, more alone than she has ever felt in her life. That night, she returned to the Fire Nation, for she knew she would not live long without her other half.

Minder Ka lived for three more days after the death of Avatar Aang, and at seventy-one years old, she passed away surrounded by her family—her husband, her daughter, Izumi, the newly-crowned Fire Lord, her second daughter, Yuzuki, her son, Ryuu, and her grandchild, Iroh II.

Her physical body spirited away, and the life of the Minder moved on.

* * *

"When I was a boy, my father, Avatar Aang, told me the story of how he, his Minder, and his friends heroically ended the Hundred Year War. Avatar Aang, Minder Ka, and Fire Lord Zuko transformed the Fire Nation colonies into the United Republic of Nations, a society where benders and nonbenders from all over the world could live and thrive together in peace and harmony. They named the capital of this great land _Republic City._

"Avatar Aang and Minder Ka accomplished many remarkable things in their lives. But sadly, their time in the world came to an end, and like the cycle of the seasons, the cycles of the Avatar and the Minder began anew."

* * *

"The White Lotus has honored my family by coming," says the Water Tribe man, inclining his head. "Thank you."

He pushes the door open to allow the three Lotus members into his home. A woman with two braids immediately stops sweeping, straightening her back and bowing her head, tucking one of her braids behind her ear. "Welcome."

"We have investigated many claims," says the leader of the small group, lowering the hood of her coat, "both here and in the Northern Tribe. All have turned out to be false."

The woman smiles brightly, her husband walking over and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Then you should be happy to know, your search has come to an end."

The leader just raises her eyebrow. "What makes you so sure your daughter is _the one?_ "

"Korra! Please come in here!"

After a moment, a slab of earth suddenly flies past the three White Lotus members, and their eyes all go wide in shock. A young girl dressed in Water Tribe clothing stands in the hole made in the wall, raising her fists in the air.

"I'm the Avatar, you gotta deal with it!"

To emphasize her claim, she jumps forward and punches to the left, leaving a trail of fire and sending a small arc of it towards the White Lotus members. She extends a small portion of the earth from the ground and pushes them backwards, and finishing them off by setting the corner of the leader's coat on fire. After it is successfully put out, they look back at the young girl, who has a trail of water to her left, a chunk of earth to her right, and her fists covered in flames.

Their search truly has come to an end, at least, this first part.

* * *

"He's always been a quiet boy," comments the mother, putting a hand on her face and sighing. "All he does is sit on the garden."

"What led you to believe that he truly _is_ the Minder?" asks the White Lotus member.

"He talks about—something about past lives, in—in his dreams," his mother stammers out. "A woman with white hair and violet eyes—like the Minder before! And sometimes, when he's in the garden and he thinks nobody is watching, I think I see him... waterbending."

The two Lotus members look at one another and nod. "Thank you, ma'am. May we speak to him?"

The mother nods, and opens the back door to let them walk into the garden. The young boy in question, sure enough, is sitting in the garden, in the middle of a field of golden flowers. His skin is dark and so are his hair and eyes. Everything about him screams Earth Nation but when he lifts his hands to brush along the flowers there is a certain kind of patience, of tenderness.

"Excuse me," calls one of the Lotus members. "You are Tae, correct?"

When the boy slowly turns, there is a gleam of light, a quick flash of orange. Behind him is the faint figure, a whisper of a woman, with glowing violet eyes.

* * *

 **(so, a quick word. while going through some reviews i did notice that some people were very unhappy with some events in this story. how the story never really changed from canon, how ka was portrayed, etc. they are good criticisms, but i did not write this story to be an incredible, epic tale about a spirit amongst humans.**

 **this was a letter to myself from when i was a child. like i said in the first chapter, this is a rewrite of a story i had up on this site when i was young. i was never able to finish the first draft of this, so i'm finishing it now, as a gift.**

 **this story means a lot to me, personally. it doesn't matter if you didn't like it, because i had fun writing it, and it's important to me.**

 **with that, i want to thank the people who are reading this now, and who have seen this story to the end. you reading this also means a lot to me, and to the young child who was never able to really finish their first version, because of family issues.**

 **thank you all for following the story of ka. this story will not be going into legend of korra, simply because i don't have the time. use your own imagination.**

 **a fiery girl named korra is the new avatar. a quiet, gentle boy named tae is the new minder. that is the end of ka's story, and the beginning of theirs.)**

 **all that said and done, here is the thing i've been waiting to say since i was young:**

 **the end.**


End file.
